Illinois Politics: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

As you may know, Chicago’s teachers’ strike ended last week.  (The teachers were only doing it for the children, of course.)  One of their demands was an elected school board.  (The mayor presently appoints the board.)  The union wants a 21-person elected board; all the better, I suppose, to ensure that the union will be able to help elect a majority of the board.  Which would mean that during the next contract negotiation, the teachers’ union would be on both sides of the table, negotiating with itself.  Which should make the negotiation easier – and increase business for one-way U-Haul rentals out of town.

Michael Madigan, Speaker-for-Life¹  of the Illinois House (sort of like Xi Jinping in China), has said he would support legislation creating an elected school board in Chicago.  However, given that the feds and the FBI seem to be investigating Springfield, as well as the Chicago City Council (wow, they must be busy), the possible problem for such legislation is whether Speaker Madigan will have a quorum by the time the legislative session starts in January.  On Friday, State Rep. Luis Arroyo, an assistant majority leader in Speaker Madigan’s House of Representatives, resigned after being charged with bribery last week.

Of course, I think the reason Representative Arroyo resigned was less because he was charged with bribery and more because he was embarrassed.  You see, Rep. Arroyo was charged with paying a bribe.  He apparently didn’t understand that, as a state representative in Illinois, you are supposed to receive bribes, not pay them.  Which is embarrassing.  At least in Illinois.
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¹ He has, so far, been Speaker from 1983 to 1995 and 1997 to the present.