First Currie, now Lisa Madigan ... exit sign is lit

By Rich Miller

www.capitolfax.com

Late last Thursday night I was chasing a story about the rumored retirement of state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, Illinois' first female House Majority Leader, when I got a text message from a high-level employee of Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

She asked if she could call me Friday morning about something her boss was doing that day. I said of course, and went back to work.

A few minutes later, Currie returned my repeated calls and texts and I forgot all about the Madigan request.

Back in 1979 when Currie started her first term, Chicago's House delegation was packed with very conservative white men. But now, "I don't feel as if I'm leaving a void" by retiring, the liberal legislator from Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood told me. The city's delegation these days is filled with "fresh, bright, able, progressive people."

Currie had a difficult time singling out a favored highlight from 40 years in the House and 20 years as Majority Leader. Instead, she ticked off a long list of subjects - early childhood education, civil rights and civil liberties, women's issues, environmental issues, freedom of information, school funding and even the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich.

Currie said her stamina and energy isn't what it used to be and it is time to "do something different."

Currie took a lot of grief when House Speaker Michael Madigan made her his Majority Leader. Some of her fellow independent liberals viewed her as a sellout to party machine hacks. Downstate legislators were upset that Madigan had picked a fellow Chicagoan instead of maintaining geographic balance.

And conservative Democrats, some of whom were uncomfortable with a female Majority Leader, viewed her as too much of an intellectual who was always championing politically "dangerous" ideas, like state-regulated needle exchange programs to prevent the spread of AIDS.

She has shown over time that she can effectively work within the system without losing her liberal street cred, and Speaker Madigan is now far more open to liberal causes than he was before. Illinois, for instance, now has five needle exchange centers. Also, as the country has shifted to a partisan divide between urban/suburban vs. exurban/rural, Downstate Democrats have been disappearing and losing influence within the caucus.

The next morning, after I'd written the Currie story and done a couple of blog posts, my phone rang. It was the same Lisa Madigan employee who'd texted me the night before.

"Hold on a second," the staffer said, "Lisa wants to talk to you."

I instantly knew ... this was no routine call.

The attorney general informed me that she wasn't running for reelection or any other office next year.

"I'm ready to move on to a new challenge," she said when I asked why.

AG Madigan told me she doesn't regret not having the opportunity to run for governor. She took herself out four years ago, saying she wouldn't run as long as her father, Speaker Mike Madigan, was in office.

"I ran for attorney general because I believed this office would be the greatest opportunity to help people," she said, flatly denying that she's getting out because of her father's horrific poll ratings.

She didn't rule out a future run for office and pointedly refused to rule out a bid for governor beyond 2018. But if a Democrat defeats Gov. Bruce Rauner next year, that'll put Madigan out of the running for maybe eight more years.

I can't say I blame her for getting out now. She's also been mentioned as a possible Chicago mayoral candidate, but I was told in no uncertain terms she wouldn't run for mayor in 2019. It really sounded to me like she is looking forward to a private sector career.

And what about Speaker Madigan, who's been in office almost forever? Several people close to him have recently retired. And then came Currie and now his own daughter. But I can't find anyone who has a convincing argument that he'll actually hang up his spurs any time soon. He still seems to be enjoying himself.</group><group id="3A3AF367-5DC5-4C3C-9E86-6BDC1CA0BC8B" type="seoLabels"><seoLabels></seoLabels>