In my blog post last month, Speaker of the House Only Feels Like a Lifetime Appointment, I explained that there have only been 54 Speakers of the House at the federal level since the position was created in 1789.  Of those, only two served more than 10 years, the longest was Sam Rayburn at 17 years.  While the constantly changing leadership landscape is intriguing, I want to provide perspective on state-level leadership, focusing on Michigan and Illinois.

Since the Speaker of the House position was established by the Michigan Legislature in 1835, 73 people have been elected to the job.  For most of the past 183 years, the position was only a one or two term gig, with the longest serving a total of 10 years. 

In 1992, Michigan voters adopted term-limits, limiting House members to serving up to six years (three two-year terms) maximum with a lifetime ban from serving in that Chamber thereafter.  In the 25-years since term-limits, nine people have served as Speaker in Michigan.  While term-limits hasn’t really changed the tenure that most have historically stayed in the Speaker’s position, it has obviously forced less experienced Legislators to be placed into the job.  While a few have been successful, several failed miserably due to lack of historical perspective and an inability to form supportive coalitions over a short tenure. 

Let's now contrast Michigan to Illinois.  In a state that claims Presidents Lincoln, Grant and Obama, Illinois established the Speaker position in 1818, just 17 years before Michigan.  Even though it’s an older state, Illinois has only had 69 people serve as Speaker, four fewer than the younger Michigan.  What is the likely culprit of Illinois having fewer Speakers? They've only had two Speakers since 1983 with current Speaker Mike Madigan (D) serving all but two years since 1983.  Now in his 34^th year in the role, he additionally carries the title of longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history.

A lot has happened in the past 35-years since Mike Madigan began serving as Speaker.  A few factoids:

• When Madigan became Speaker, President Ronald Reagan was in his first term, Tip O’Neill was Speaker of the U.S. House, and Michigan’s current Speaker was only 2-years old.
• Madigan’s tenure has lasted through six U.S. presidents, eight U.S. House Speakers, and six Illinois Governors.
• In that same 35-year timeframe, Michigan has had 12 Speakers.

While a lot has changed since 1983, including the number of legislative leaders in Washington, DC and in Michigan, it’s different in Illinois where Madigan’s torch is still burning strong and he’s not about to relinquish his powerful grip.

On the other hand, Michigan State Representative Tom Leonard, only 17-months into serving as Speaker, is term-limited from the House of Representatives at the end of this year and will passing the Speaker’s torch to yet another member – one that will have just 4 years or even less legislative experience.

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