Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, May 6,2010

Brady’s many unhappy returns

I was out with some political buddies the other night and the subject of Bill Brady’s taxes came up.Just about everybody agreed that Brady should never have released his tax returns. All he did

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, April 29,2010

I’m not getting my hopes up for early adjournment

By Rich Miller

The Illinois General Assembly usually tries to adjourn by the end of May. That hasn’t worked out too well the past few years as partisan bickering, the state’s huge budget problems and the

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, April 22,2010

The ‘Fair Map’ is going nowhere

By Rich Miller

Almost nothing frightens state legislators more than redistricting. The drawing of new legislative district maps after every census causes more bouts of heartburn than just about anything else.Take a

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, April 15,2010

Media go overboard to hammer Democrats

By Rich Miller

It seems like everywhere you look these days, the Illinois Democrats are getting hammered. Most of the Democratic carnage is self-inflicted, like the Scott Lee Cohen debacle, or the brutal gubernatori

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, April 8,2010

U.S. Senate candidates give each other gifts of gaffes

By Rich Miller

For a couple of otherwise pretty smart fellas, the two major party candidates for U.S. Senate seem to be playing right into the other’s hands these days.It seems to me at times that Republican S

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, April 1,2010

Pension reform will cost Quinn campaign cash

By Rich Miller

In roughly ten and a half hours last week, the House and Senate introduced, debated and passed sweeping pension reform legislation by overwhelming majorities in both chambers. The breadth of the legis

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, March 25,2010

Quinn can’t blame feds for education hole

By Rich Miller

I’m going to tell you right up front that this is a column about the state budget and involves a little math. Wait! Don’t move on to the next story. I know this can get a bit tedious. But

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, March 18,2010

Why Quinn’s budget is dead on arrival

By Rich Miller

Like all of the budgets proposed by governors in the past few years, Gov. Pat Quinn’s spending outline last week was an almost complete fantasy. It has pretty much zero chance of surviving

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, March 11,2010

Why the latest gambling push has a chance

By Rich Miller

The Statehouse is buzzing yet again with talk of a new gaming expansion plan. This time, the players say, they have their acts together. Really.I’m always pretty skeptical of these big legislati

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, March 4,2010

When a candidate for governor tries to help out a puppy gas chamber

By Rich Miller

Jerry Clarke is not easily ruffled. Not only has he seen it all in his years running campaigns in Illinois, but he’s served several tours of duty in Iraq as a combat helicopter pilot. But I thou