* Reiter told me essentially the same thing as he told Fran Spielman yesterday…

Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter on Thursday voiced unwavering support for embattled Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, even though a new federal indictment plunges deeper into Madigan’s once impervious inner-circle.

Reiter reaffirmed the labor movement’s support for its Springfield champion one day after former lawmaker-turned-Commonwealth Edison lobbyist Michael McClain, one of the speaker’s closest confidants, was one of four people charged with participating in a bribery scheme.

“The people that you’ve worked with to help make everyday peoples’ lives better — you can’t just walk away from that situation. Especially in a situation like this where there’s this appearance that’s been created that may, in fact, be divorced from actual reality,” Reiter told the Sun-Times Thursday.

* I hear this a lot…

This is all fascinating to watch play out, but Madigan still has 55 votes and a very loyal base. No one else is remotely close. Madigan’s magic has been in uniting warring factions in the caucus, and I wouldn’t count him out until someone else can show they can do that too. https://t.co/EM7T7H4V8b

— Mark Maxwell (@MarkMaxwellTV) November 20, 2020

Others are out there, so saying he has 55 votes is incorrect. He needs 60 to win. And this ain’t no capital bill. The people he needs aren’t shrinking violets waiting for him to shower them with favors. They’ve made a very public commitment that will be almost impossible to break without losing all face.

Until Madigan can prove he can get to 60 by flipping five (and counting) members back into line, he cannot win. And the opposition so far isn’t a bunch of regular machine types who can be persuaded with jobs, or contracts or promotions to leadership. They also can’t be threatened with loss of committee assignments or whatever because if they stick together, he’s out and he can’t do anything to them and they can cut their own deal with the next person to help him or her get to 60.

As I detailed for subscribers this morning, Madigan could put the state through a very long and disastrous stalemate and declare war against a faction of his own members in an attempt to hold onto power. We’ll see whether he wants to go that far.

* From comments…

Until someone else announces they are running this just a fun party game.

This is not much different than Justice Kilbride’s retention race and his appointed replacement. The idea right now is to prevent the opposition from winning. Then, when that becomes clear, House Democrats can work on coalescing behind someone else.

* Tribune…

“I would not count him out,” said one previous Madigan political nemesis, former Republican Gov. Jim Edgar. “He’s the smartest guy in the Capitol building and very determined, and he’s not going to go easily.”

I chatted with Gov. Edgar this morning for a bit and asked if he’d seen that the count had moved to 18 declared opponents. He hadn’t, but he did see that it had advanced to 17 late last night.

“I don’t know,” Edgar said. “Maybe it is the end. We’ll see. But, again, my experience has been with Madigan is that he’s a smart guy.”

He is at that.

* I texted and emailed several House Democrats a question yesterday: “Howdy. Any comment on 16 House Democrats announcing they will not vote to reelect Speaker Madigan?” Here’s Rep. Jaime Andrade’s (D-Chicago) texted response. Don’t hold the typos against him because we all know the issues with texting (except for Speaker Madigan, of course)…

Hello Rich, there needs to be an immediate dem caucus meeting in order to move forward. We can not wait with redistricting around the corner. If the votes are not there they are not there. It is simple math.

So others can start making their moves but they can not wait too long because then it will look like they are asking for “permission”. We do not want the same thing happen when it took Hynes close or over 200 hundred times to be elected as president of the senate. The transition should not be done over night. And I suspect the 16 will grow in the next few days. And I suspect we will lose a few state reps that will leave the GA all together with change of leadership. One can never underestimate the speaker but I do not see where the 60 votes come from.

Who flips back to a yes. Are the unions actually going to make calls and ask members to vote for MM, I do not think so. One thing is to put out a letter but actively make phone calls…

At the end of the day what would the speaker expect of any member of his leadership to do?

*** UPDATE *** He’s been calling around for weeks, but it’s still notable…

Speaker Madigan is calling IL House members today checking to see if they still support him as the number increases to 18 Dems who do not. He’s currently 5 short of the 60 votes needed to remain Speaker #ILDems #Madigan

— Mary Ann Ahern (@MaryAnnAhernNBC) November 20, 2020

Stay tuned.