Statehouse Insider: Let’s chant: Two more years, two more years

So much for the grand plan to oust MICHAEL MADIGAN as House speaker. Not that many people thought it was going to happen anyway, but there was a relentless drumbeat by the state Republican Party to shame Democrats into rejecting Madigan for another term as speaker. Democrats had already met privately during the veto session and decided to continue supporting Madigan, so last week’s public vote during the House swearing-in ceremonies was anticlimactic. The only dissenter, such as it was, was Rep. SCOTT DRURY of Highwood, who voted “present.” Almost immediately, the state GOP was back at it, banging their anti-Madigan drum and sending out emails criticizing Democrats who voted for him. The truly depressing thing about this is that this will now go on for another two years. It means there is another election cycle where it will be all “Madigan bad” all of the time. Please click to read the story from Doug Finke from the Springfield Journal-Register.