I have to say that even though I may not agree politically with the leaders in the Illinois State Legislature, I have learned to admire them.  That would be Speaker of the House, President of the Senate and the minority leaders.  They are trying to do the people’s business often under difficult conditions.  I sometimes think herding cats would be a promotion.

Michael Madigan was the best Speaker of the House in any state.  He personally read every bill and knew every word in that bill and knew how it fit into the law.  Believe it or not, Speaker Madigan was far more conservative than his Democrat caucus and he put the brakes on a lot of bad stuff.  I know you are sitting there thinking how could this be worse?  Believe me, it could have been much worse.

Michael Madigan was able to control his side of the House because he was able to control the political purse strings of the Democrat State Representatives.  If some representative got too far out in left field, Madigan would withhold campaign funds from them and cut off other resources from them.  They might get another candidate from their own party running against them if they did not fall in line.  To do all that requires lots and lots of money which is where the problem started.  I am not defending Mr. Madigan; I’m giving you my view about how things are in Springfield.  The moral of the story about Michael Madigan and others is that no matter how big you think you are, you are not untouchable.

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I've let ISRA membership expire. After the last round of IL gun control laws they supported I'm out for good.

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And yet another reason to not give the ISRA or their range a dime until Pearson his ilk are gone.