In a lengthy Crain's profile today, Greg Hinz zeroes in on the most infuriating aspect of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's tenure -- his apparent lack of any policy agenda:

If Mr. Madigan is like many other pols in wanting to keep his power and help his family, what's rare is how little he uses his power elsewhere. Mr. Lawrence recalls once asking Mr. Madigan if he was passionate about any issue or cause. "His answer was that he was more about being a political strategist."

Here's a related passage:

Mr. Madigan's spokesman says the speaker will play his usual role: assembling a majority strong enough to face down powerful "special interests" like Commonwealth Edison Co. on electric rates and governors like Mr. Blagojevich on bad ideas like a gross-receipts tax.

It's fine for spokesman Steve Brown to say that Madigan serves as a check on "bad ideas."  That's certainly part of his role of a legislative leader. 

Yet have we seen is the speaker put his weight behind any good ideas in recent years? 

Not really.  Instead, we've watched him either ignore or water-down significant proposals coming out of the governor's office and state senate (for example, both the income tax hike and reform measures proposed this past session).  In doing so, he protected his House majority and consolidated even more power in his office.  But with state government in a financial tailspin, it's not a feat worth celebrating.

Read Hinz's full article here.