“Madigan: Power. Privilege. Politics.,” the 60-minute doc about Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, has been heavily booked on Downstate TV stations and movie theatres, but to date has not been scheduled for any Chicago airings or theatrical screenings.
The film was funded by non-profit Illinois Policy Action (IPA), the lobbying arm of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute and scripted by the Institute’s writer Austin Berg.
“The doc dwells on Madigan’s successful tax law business, which has been the subject of criticism of those who believe Madigan uses his immense power to bring business to his law firm,” comments Matthew Dietrich in his Huffington Post review.
You would think that “Madigan,” about an Illinois political fixture for 45 years, would have been produced by an Illinois production company. Not so. The assignment was given to an Austin, Texas video production company, Emergent Order whom IPA had worked with a few years ago.
Led by John Papola, Emergent’s CEO/EP creative director, its clients include such non-political brands as Whole Foods, Burger King, Subaru, and Geico.
The question as to why Illinois production companies were given the cold shoulder has received the same answer from both Illinois Policy Action and knowledgeable veteran Chicago political strategists.
“We approached Illinois companies and they turned down the work out of fear of retribution,” was the candid response from Diana Rickert, spokesman for Illinois Policy Action, located in a LaSalle Street office.
“Any company in Chicago and the state certainly would have been capable but they didn’t want to do the work. They were afraid of retribution.”
A political analyst, who asked not to be identified, completely concurred, saying, “No Illinois production company would have touched it, fearing retribution at some point by Madigan or one of his people.”
Another political pro says, “It was obvious the doc was created for the purpose of tarring Madigan in the hope of trigging a change-of-heart vote by Democrats in 2018, so they’ll vote for Rauner’s Republicans up for state wide election.”
Even more interesting is that the Texas company wasn’t very enthusiastic, either, in accepting the assignment.
“Emergent’s first reaction wasn’t an automatic ‘yes,’” explains Rickert. “John Papola didn’t feel Madigan was an interesting enough subject and they weren’t’ sure if it would make a good documentary. But once the Emergent people got into the research and interviews, they found Madigan was a compelling subject.”
The Texas crew spent four months this summer shooting interviews, with former alderman Dick Simpson, Emil Jones Jr., Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, Robert Blagojevich and Tribune columnist John Kass, among others, in Chicago, the suburbs and Springfield. The last interview wrapped the end of September.
Rickert would not reveal the budget “to protect the voluntary donors,” but she did say, “As fiscal conservatives, we tried to keep the budget tight.”
Illinois Political Action was founded in late 2013 as a means of advancing 15-year old Illinois Policy Institute’s ideas in Springfield. Its mission is to turn into law the policy solutions developed by the Institute’s policy solutions developed by the Institute’s expert research team.
