SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A showdown is looming in the Illinois House that was previously unimaginable. And it could invoke memories of a 93-ballot fight for speaker in 1975.
Lawmakers will meet this week to inaugurate a new General Assembly and the House will elect a speaker, which for 18 times during the past 38 years has been a lock for powerful Chicago Democrat Michael Madigan. But Madigan has been implicated in a federal bribery investigation involving utility company ComEd. Madigan has not been charged and denies wrongdoing, but three candidates are challenging him and he doesn’t yet have enough votes to prevail.
