Caucus fracas? Opposition to Madigan's speaker bid reaches his own leadership team

The chair of the House Democratic Caucus said Tuesday she won’t vote for Michael Madigan to retain the speaker’s gavel, making her the 19th House Democrat — and the first member of the chamber’s party leadership — to break ranks with the besieged veteran legislative leader.

State Rep. Kathleen Willis said in a statement to her fellow Democratic legislators that she made the decision to oppose Madigan’s bid to be speaker in the next General Assembly after “a lot of thought and discussion with my family.”

The west suburban Democrat pointedly did not use the title that Madigan has held for nearly four decades, referring to the man known in Springfield as “The Speaker” or “Mr. Speaker” as simply “Representative Madigan.”

“As the House Democratic Caucus Chair, this decision was not made lightly,” Willis wrote. “I feel strongly that our caucus has a lot of hard work to accomplish in the upcoming legislative session and we need to put the distraction that has been created by Representative Madigan behind us and move forward in mending the State of Illinois.”

Read more: https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2020/12/1/21802937/michael-mike-madigan-kathleen-willis-leadership-team-house-speaker-comed-probe