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  When it comes to Madigan, there's no debate: It's time to take out the trash
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Last EditedImperator  Jun 06, 2012 09:55pm
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AuthorJohn Kass
MediaNewspaper - Chicago Tribune
News DateThursday, June 7, 2012 03:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionIn Wisconsin the political debate has gone national this presidential election year: Too much government or not enough?

Yet just over the border, here in Illinois, political home of President Barack Obama, there is no political debate. Not really. We have plenty of government. There's so much government in Illinois that it sucks up all the oxygen. But there's just enough left over so that taxpayers can smell the stink of political refuse as they get another slap in the mouth.

The debate in Wisconsin was about ideas. You might agree or disagree, but it was a wonderful battle of ideas. There are no ideas in Illinois. A state run by political bosses isn't about ideas. What matters here is who gets what, as decided by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, boss of the Democrats and boss of Illinois.

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.

Madigan didn't want to be interviewed by reporters David Kidwell and John Chase. But he did release a statement.

"The overall approach looks more like garbage from the two garbage haulers who work for a bankrupt company," Madigan said.

Arrogance fits him, doesn't it? It fits him the way that black cloak fit Emperor Palpatine in the old "Star Wars" movies. He's right, though, about the bankruptcy. The Tribune is in bankruptcy, and it will emerge from bankruptcy. That's business.
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