Prairie State Wire

Welcome to Swamp Tours, a new weekly column written by a veteran Springfield observer and insider. Send feedback to staffreports@lgis.co. 

A young Mike Madigan arrived in Springfield in 1970. He learned quickly that success in state politics required working across party lines.

Or co-opting across them.

Back then, the state used a unique three-member district format in the Illinois House of Representatives, guaranteeing representation from both Republicans and Democrats in every state house district. Legislators were forced to work together, to form regional alliances and be less party-partisan. 

This didn’t mean Illinois House members were less motivated by self-preservation.

In fact Republicans, Madigan would find, were fertile ground for an ambitious would-be Boss. It would just take patience.

Indeed, Mike Madigan has not always ruled Springfield. Consolidating power and control took time and effort.  

For the first half of Madigan's career, he was only a Boss. He was not the Capo de Tutti Capo-- The Boss of all Bosses-- he is today.  

Madigan watched closely as Republican Governors Jim Thompson and Jim Edgar served from 1978 to 1998. GOP-based operations run by Springfield powerbroker Bill Cellini and former Governor George Ryan competed with Madigan's own growing outfit for control of the money and power. 

That’s until the opportunity arose to turn competition into cooperation; when the deal to create The Combine was consummated. 

No longer would Republican and Democrat organizations compete for power and money. Instead, they would cooperate to guarantee that they all made money together. 

Make no waves and cash the check. That is the way of the contract lobbyists and the other grifters who dominate Springfield during the legislative session.

As an attorney himself, Madigan understood the Legislature's power to write laws that allowed for his corrupt practices to stay within the letter of them.  

During the 1980s, Madigan's legal counsel Jim Morphew and his political director Bill Filan (both white Irish guys from Chicago’s South Side) helped craft the Madigan brand, building up his power through a combination of aggressive action and patient refusal to act.  

With the help of these two and his underbosses, Mike McClain and Timothy Mapes, plus his double-dealing former chief-of-staff Gary LaPaille, Madigan’s became the dominant Democrat organization. Yet, he still hadn’t corralled control of the GOP families.

That all started to change in the mid-1990’s, with the elevation of the Speaker’s new legal counsel and true consigliere, Michael Kasper. For Madigan, he brought new vision, skills and opportunity.

One of the tell-tale signs of a true mafia organization is the existence of a consigliere to represent the family when dealing with legitimate entities and law enforcement.  In Mike Kasper, Madigan found everything he didn’t have but needed.

Born into a “made” Chicago political family, Kasper was educated at the same schools as Madigan. He was white, Irish, loyal and-- even according to his father, Denny, impressively ruthless.   

Kasper grew into the role of Madigan’s consigliere while serving as his House legal counsel. Then he stepped out of state government and expanded his operational influence to before unimagined levels.

In 1999, Kasper joined former consigliere to GOP Gov. Thompson, self-described “clout heavy lobbyist” Jim Fletcher to form a government affairs consulting firm that would turbo-charge The Combine.

Fletcher was already the most influential GOP advisor in Springfield. Allied with Kasper-- and Madigan-- sent a signal to everyone in the Statehouse: the struggle for dominance was over.  

Other leaders were marginalized; Madigan seized full control of Springfield. He was now the Capo de Tutti Capo.  

His complete consolidation of power was inevitable. Top aides for then-State Sen. President Emil Jones (D-Chicago), the top ranking black elected official in the state, and for State House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego), leader of the suburban GOP caucus, joined Fletcher and Kasper. All the families had a representative ensconced at The Firm representing The Combine.

Kasper continues to serve as counsel and Treasurer to the Illinois Democratic Party.  He represents all of Madigan's interests on election law matters, even requiring all of Madigan's caucus members to make a pilgrimage to Kasper's office to submit their election petitions. 

If Kasper doesn't sign off on the petitions, democrat legislators don't get on the ballot.  He is Madigan's conduit to the courts and, because of lawyer-client confidentiality, can speak without fear of being dragged in front of a grand jury.

As with any qualified consigliere, Kasper always puts the interests of his client, Mike Madigan, first. This is assumed. 

But he also has to eat. And he does so voraciously with the endorsement of his Boss.  

That his work, however, might be in direct conflict with the Democratic Party of Illinois’ core constituents, is a feature of this system, not a bug. Its goal isn’t to promote policy. It is to engender personal loyalties so as to secure power. Madigan lieutenants who get rich want to stay rich, tending to sharpen their focus.

Kasper, like McClain, has represented ComEd for years. He also represents a plethora of polluters, vice merchants, and poverty pimps. 

In fact, Kasper's specialty is representing well-heeled big money interests whose policy proposals arguably devastate the core constituencies of the Democratic Party.  He uses the cover of his party credentials and his law firm to stiff the same people who vote his boss into office.

That's how it works for the consigliere.  Create an image of an honorable leader of the legal community, all the while doing the Boss's bidding.  Mike Kasper has made a fortune playing the role.  Too bad the taxpayers of Illinois are covering the tab for his part in Madigan's sprawling enterprise.