After Michael J. Madigan’s 36 years as Illinois House Speaker, a 10-year term limit on current and future speakers doesn’t seem like a lot of time in the big chair.
Except it is.
Nobody prior to Madigan had ever served 10 years as speaker in this state, going back to when Illinois became a state in 1818. The only person who came close was Republican Warren Wood, who held the position for eight years in the 1950s.
Most of the rest served single terms or two terms. Democrat Paul Powell, served six years, including two years before Wood and four years after. Powell became infamous for stashing cash in shoeboxes at his Springfield hotel residence and died with an estimated fortune of $4.6 million. But I digress.
Another Democrat, Bill Redmond, also held the gavel for six years, although Madigan held quite a bit of sway over him in the late 1970s. Two Republicans served as speaker for six years each in the early 1900s.
But that’s about it. Republican George Ryan was speaker for two years before he was tapped to be Gov. Jim Thompson’s running mate. In the 1930s, four different members (three Democrats and one Republican) held the gavel for just two years each. Out of 70 House speakers, 47 served two years or less (four days in the case of Ryan’s Majority Leader Art Telcser).
What I’m getting at is 10 years is actually a long time.
More importantly, though, the 10-year ceiling has also somehow become a floor — an expected decadelong entitlement.
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch has obviously fully intended to serve the full decade since he was first elected to the chamber’s top job for a two-year term in 2021. You may have noticed that a couple of his members who spoke out early about his mishandling of the Harry Benton sexual harassment matter suddenly went silent. That was no coincidence. Pressure is being exerted on the rank-and-file. His team wants those 10 years.
But a decade with the gavel is not only historically unique, it’s also longer than the average service time for House Democratic members, currently 8.4 years. That’s up a bit from a six-year average in 2020, according to the statehouse’s unofficial honorary historian (a title I just made up) John Amdor. But it’s still below the 10-year House speaker term limit.
Starting in the final two decades of the previous century, the Senate has a history of electing Senate presidents to multiple terms. Democrat Phil Rock held the Senate’s gavel for 14 years. Then, Republican Pate Philip served 10 years before the Democrats won the right to draw the new district map in 2001. Democrat Emil Jones was the chamber’s top person for six years, and was replaced by Democrat John Cullerton for 11 years. Current Senate President Don Harmon was first elevated in 2020, but he’s eligible to serve until 2031 because that first year after Cullerton resigned midterm doesn’t count toward the chamber’s 10-year term limit.
Before Rock, most Senate presidents served just two to six years, except for the 10 years that Republican Sen. Art Bidwell held the gavel from 1955-1965.
One of the reasons that House speakers and Senate presidents served such short stints was that party dominance wasn’t assured like it has been for the last several decades. Partisan majorities flipped back and forth much more before the advent of computer-driven redistricting. Republicans and downstate Democrats would also occasionally scheme to prevent Chicago from holding power in their chambers (which is how Powell was first elected speaker).
I’m not advocating here for reducing the term limits to six years or whatever. But what I am saying is that Illinois government will not crash and burn if Welch and Harmon don’t serve their full five two-year General Assemblies as their chambers’ leaders.
They should both have to earn each and every one of their two-year terms. A 10-year stint should not be considered the minimum length of service. If their members want both of them to stick around, that’s their decision, as long as they recognize that nobody is automatically entitled to a decade at the top.
Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.