It was Jan. 12, 1983, and the newly installed Democratic Speaker Michael J. Madigan stood on the Illinois House podium, surveyed the kingdom he now ruled and picked up the wooden gavel that symbolized his rise to power.
He declared it a “new era” in Springfield.
Unlike others who would slam the gavel to bring the House to order, Madigan often held it by its barrel-shaped head and gently tapped with the handle. He didn’t need to smack it.
He was “The Velvet Hammer.”
While making national history by serving 36 of the next 38 years as speaker, Madigan earned the nickname for his persistent but often subtle ways of beating down opponents.
His toughest critics called him ruthless, an iron-fisted powermonger whose sole purpose in life was to win, to keep the gavel, to hang on to that power. Yet the Southwest Side lawmaker’s friends, and even some foes, called him a political and legislative genius.
Now Madigan’s final legacy will be on the line this week in one of the most anticipated public corruption trials in Illinois history. A 23-count federal racketeering indictment alleges Madigan ran his government and political operations like a criminal enterprise.