Michael Madigan. Photo courtesy Examiner.com.

by Jim Butler, President

Sangamon County Rifle Association

(Guns Save Life) – I’m sure by now that if you haven’t had your head buried in the sand, you are aware that Illinois is the only state that doesn’t have right-to-carry so its citizens can protect themselves and their families.

Not one of the other forty-nine other states has attempted to revoke or cancel their right-to-carry legislation.  They have not become the “Wild West” as predicted by those opposed to self-defense and gun ownership.  In most instances there has been significant reduction in armed violence, aggravated batteries and rape.

People with concealed carry permits are 5.7 times less likely to be arrested for violent offenses than the general public; and, 13.5 times less likely to be arrested for non-violent offenses than the general public.

So why don’t we have concealed carry in Illinois?

For almost thirty years one man has ruled Illinois with an iron fist.  Speaker of the Illinois House Michael Madigan has been described as a self-serving leprechaun, who with a nod of his head, can pass or kill a bill.  Unbridled power at work!

At the age of 70, the nation’s longest-serving statehouse speaker doesn’t care much about appearances.

Madigan wears several hats.  Besides speaker of the House, he is a partner in a prosperous law firm, and the chairman of the state Democratic Party.

Though Madigan insists he avoids conflicts of interest and abides by a pledge to recuse himself, clients of his law firm benefit from his dominance in the legislature.  In recent years, bills unfavorable to the clients his firm represents got watered down or slow but certain death after being assigned to Madigan’s Rules Committee. Guess where our carry bills end up?

The confluence of Madigan’s many roles doesn’t allow for clean lines.  To suggest otherwise is pure fantasy.  Watch the steady stream of lobbyists, lawyers and consultants swing through the House speaker’s office door on any session day, many of whom hire his law firm to provide “legal guidance.”  You don’t need an ethics expert to deduce that something is very wrong in Illinois.

John Kass wrote in the Chicago Tribune on June 6, 2012:

Wisconsin had a recall election for its governor on Tuesday.  But our governor doesn’t run things here.  Boss Madigan runs things, enriching himself through his law practice, controlling the Legislature that passes laws that benefit his private law clients, corporations, banks and real estate interests, while raising political money and sending armies of political workers to hammer legislators into line.

After reading the three-part investigative series in the Chicago Tribune that exposed how he operates, it became clear.  It’s a political protection racket.

Mike Madigan has run a stealth campaign for almost 30 of his 42 years in the Legislature to maintain his unbridled power over the Illinois.

Thanks to the three-part investigative series in the Chicago Tribune, they have stripped away much of the secrecy and exposed how he operates.

No wonder Illinois is in such poor shape, and known as one of that most corrupt states in the nation.  We are long overdue for a change.  Maybe what we need is a governor like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and an Illinois Attorney General of the same quality and ability as Patrick Fitzgerald to clean up Madigan’s and his allies mess they have created in Illinois.