Name: New state House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch made commitments for reform to force out Madigan. Can he keep them?
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New state House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch made commitments for reform to force out Madigan. Can he keep them?

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AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 16, 2021 at 5:00 amShortly after picking up the speaker’s gavel for the first time, Emanuel “Chris” Welch pledged “a new day” in the Illinois House, one that recognized diversity, autonomy and transparency and a break from the near-autocratic rule of Michael Madigan.Whether Welch can fulfill that promise will quickly become evident as he puts together a leadership team, writes new rules for how House business is conducted and works on a legislative redistricting plan. Although an ally of Madigan’s, Welch told legislators he intends to take the chamber in a new direction.Advertisement“There are some things I would like to continue but there are some things that I would do differently. I think those things that I would do differently are going to show up and I’m going to distinguish myself,” said Welch, 49, a Hillside Democrat.Welch was elected the state’s first Black House speaker on Wednesday after days of closed-door meetings that ultimately led to the end of Madigan’s decadeslong hold on power. He amassed the 60 votes necessary for the win after having one-on-one conversations with fellow House members.Advertisement“I asked my colleagues over the last few days to hold me accountable for what I do over this next two years,” he said. That meant efforts to “empower our members, work with them and give them a voice, look at them as partners and friends, in this effort to fix what’s wrong with Illinois.”One of the first tests for Welch will be rather mundane and arcane, yet all important — writing the rules under which the chamber will operate. Without offering specifics, he said the rules should provide an initial indication of how he plans to distinguish himself from Madigan’s leadership.“I think the way you show how you would do things differently is in your action. You lead by example, and I do think the rules is a place we’re going to start,” he said.“Many members have said they want to sit down sooner than later and show me what they believe should be looked at. And so I told them I want to examine the rules and possibly make changes, possibly make a lot of changes.”But, he added, “I don’t know what those changes are until I have these conversations. That’s going to take place pretty quickly.”Madigan rewrote the House rule book in 1997, the year he came back as speaker after two years of Republican control of the chamber, his only time out of power after gaining the gavel in 1983. The rules gave greater powers to the majority party and were enhanced to give Madigan near sole authority over the chamber.Under the House rules at one time, the Rules Committee would assign bills filed by lawmakers to a standing committee for a hearing. They would then go on to a full floor vote or be held.But under Madigan, the Rules Committee became a killing ground for legislation he opposed, with many bills sent there never again seeing the light of day.Advertisement“One of the first things I’m waiting to see is whether the new House rules will loosen the Rules Committee’s and by extension the speaker’s, ability to kill bills from the get-go,” said Charles Wheeler III, a veteran statehouse observer and retired professor at the University of Illinois at Springfield.Republicans are hoping for rules that will allow more of their legislation to be considered on the floor — as well as more time allotted to reading legislation that comes from the other side before having to vote on it.“I think 45 House Republicans would like nothing better than to, at some point, vote yes on the House Rules because they respect our rights as well,” said Springfield GOP Rep. Tim Butler. “We have a lot of good people who know about the rules and I would hope as we craft the rules for the 102nd General Assembly that we collaborate on those.”Under Madigan, there also were unofficial rules, such as a limit on how many bills lawmakers could focus on and push for passage among all of the legislation they introduced. Many members felt the limit constricted their abilities and ignored constituents needs.Another early test for Welch will be in picking the members of his leadership team, which often reflects not just who his closest allies are but also what trade-offs he made to get the votes needed to win the speaker’s post. In addition to offering prestige and power, leadership posts as well as committee chairs get a stipend on top of their regular legislative pay.AdvertisementThe House Black Caucus was initially almost unanimous in its support of Madigan But after the longtime speaker suspended his campaign in a bid to see if anyone else could collect the votes necessary to win, Welch became a leading contender.Three female representatives also vied for the job, one by one dropping out. The last challenger, state Rep. Jay Hoffman of Swansea, a downstate member of Madigan’s leadership, said he gave up his bid in an agreement with Welch to keep a leadership post.“I think our leadership team has to look like our caucus, has to be extremely diverse,” Welch said. “We have 52% women. We have Blacks. We have Latinx. We have Asian Americans. We have people from downstate and upstate. We have to have a leadership team that looks like this great, diverse state.”Welch said while there’s great value in a diverse caucus, he warned it can also lead to disagreements.“With diversity, you’re going to have a lot of thought. And with a lot of thought you’re going to get a lot of opinions. When you get a lot of opinions, you’re going to get a lot of disagreements. Well, we’re going to learn from each other because we’re all going to be around that table,” he said. “That was an overwhelming theme that I heard from my colleagues and they’re going to be in the room.”Diversity within the Democratic caucus also will be a key component in the most partisan issue confronting the new speaker this year — redrawing the state’s political boundaries to conform to new population figures from the federal census.AdvertisementMadigan elevated redistricting and reapportionment cartography to an art form in gradually increasing Democratic representation, particular in the formerly staunch Republican collar counties.Welch will be faced with members each asking for the most favorable map for their reelection. And while Black and Latino lawmakers teamed up to help Welch win the gavel, their interests when it comes to new maps differ. Latinos are seeking expanded congressional and state legislative representation in a new map, while Blacks are faced with trying to preserve their districts despite declining population.“I think redistricting presents maybe the biggest challenge,” Wheeler said. “How do you draw a map that preserves existing Black-majority districts, while increasing the number of Hispanic-majority districts?”With Madigan’s expected resignation from the House, his Southwest Side seat becomes an automatic Latino pickup, Wheeler said. At the same time, the rise of Republicans in central and southern Illinois means there are few downstate Democratic seats that need to be protected. With population declines in rural areas, the Republican region could be destined to lose seats.For his part, Welch said that he’s “always supported fair maps,” a process aimed at removing much of the partisanship from the mapmaking process. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker also has said he would veto a map that he doesn’t view as “fair.”“I’m going to reach out to the governor. I’m going to reach out to the Senate president and the other leaders and we’re going to work on this collaboratively and try to do the best we can and try to be as transparent as we can. I think that’s how you build trust is by doing it in a transparent way,” Welch said.AdvertisementBut since Democrats control both legislative chambers and the governor’s office, they don’t need any Republican input to draw new boundaries for them to become law — subject to federal voting rights standards. And internal pressure could quickly lead Democratic mapmakers to nudge fairness pledges aside.Another huge challenge is the state’s a $4 billion deficit, about half of that due to shortfalls blamed on lower tax receipts as a result of the pandemic.Republicans in Washington have opposed pandemic-tax relief aid, contending it is a bailout to largely Democratic states. But with Democrats gaining control of the Senate and the incoming administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, Pritzker and Welch are confident of federal aid arriving.The Pritzker administration has forecast a loss of up to $1 billion if the state doesn’t decouple its income tax formula from federal tax law changes that accelerate some business deductions.A lame duck legislative attempt to make the move in state income tax law was rejected by lawmakers, in part due to criticism that the administration waited to notify the legislature about the revenue loss and over fears that it would be painted as a business tax hike.Welch said he expects the legislature to take up the decoupling issue again shortly after it reconvenes next month.Advertisement“We’re going to work with the governor and the Senate president and the minority leaders in both chambers and roll up our sleeves and get to work to do the serious work that lies ahead,” he said. “We’ve got some real budget issues to tackle … and a whole lot of other issues in front of us.”House Republican leader Jim Durkin, who excoriated Madigan from the House floor on Inauguration Day, blaming him for the state’s steady stream of political corruption, said “the reset button has been pushed” with Welch’s arrival as speaker, but remained wary.“We House Republicans are prepared to be partners with the House Democrat majority because we don’t have a choice,” he said. “But we have this golden opportunity … to start fresh and to make decisions that we know that will be tough, but they will be the ones that are going to make us proud.”It will be an active legislative session for Welch, who also will take over the fundraising operation for House Democrats, as well as dealing with allies in organized labor an civil trial attorneys. It’s all a prelude to 2022, when the focus will be on elections that could reflect his handling of the House and the commitments he made.“I didn’t sign up to be the speaker. I didn’t seek this job out. It kinda found me and I don’t know if in two years I’ll be the speaker,” Welch said. “If I put my name forward in two years, I think they’ll be happy to reelect me. If I don’t have the support, I’ll remove my name from consideration.” Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 16, 2021 at 5:00 amShortly after picking up the speaker’s gavel for the first time, Emanuel “Chris” Welch pledged “a new day” in the Illinois House, one that recognized diversity, autonomy and transparency and a break from the near-autocratic rule of Michael Madigan.Whether Welch can fulfill that promise will quickly become evident as he puts together a leadership team, writes new rules for how House business is conducted and works on a legislative redistricting plan. Although an ally of Madigan’s, Welch told legislators he intends to take the chamber in a...

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New state House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch made commitments for reform to force out Madigan. Can he keep them?

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