Rich Miller

One of the problems with applying “appearance of impropriety” rules to Illinois and Chicago politics is that most of the players are swimming in a small political pond. We’re constantly treated to stories about how this or that political insider connected with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is representing a company that just landed a sweet […]

The reaction by the religious right to the passage of a gay-rights law in Illinois has been predictably loud and aggrieved. But the law’s critics have universally zeroed in on one key argument: a claim that churches and religious institutions will now be forced by the government to hire gays and lesbians. They’re wrong. Their […]

Politics is a numbers game — and the numbers of votes, dollars, and favors are the only numbers that matter. The boys who play politics at the street level never forget their numbers. They can tell you how many votes they pulled out of precinct 22 three elections ago, or how much money they raised […]

Gov. Rod Blagojevich tends to bring out the worst in people. There is such a strong feeling of ill will against him among all stripes of political insiders and observers in this state that they’ll believe almost anything. Two solid years of the governor deliberately attacking people who didn’t deserve it, attacking people who deserved […]

The ongoing Illinois drama over the medical malpractice-reform debate intensified last week when President George W. Bush paid a visit to Madison County. Yes, that Madison County — the favored courtroom home to many of the nation’s wealthiest trial lawyers, made universally infamous by the multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuits filed over asbestos and Marlboro Lights. Madison […]

It was probably no accident that Gov. Rod Blagojevich chose a Naperville school last week in which to unveil his proposal to criminalize the sale or rental of violent and sexually explicit video games to minors. If he had used an impoverished inner-city school as a backdrop, the assembled parents might have asked him about […]

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is widely believed to be the teachers’ unions’ best friend. Madigan passed the “temporary” income tax surcharge years ago, which earmarked half of the new money for schools. He helped the unions stop unfriendly reforms of the Chicago schools. His 1991 fight against property tax caps forced the Illinois General […]

The dust hasn’t even settled yet from the 2004 campaign, and candidates are already lining up for the 2006 race. You and I may be sick of campaign news, but to these people the game is just beginning. Joe Birkett, the DuPage County state’s attorney who narrowly lost the 2002 attorney general’s race to Democrat […]

After the Republicans lost full control of the Illinois General Assembly eight years ago, they rushed through several bills in January 1997, just before giving the House gavel to the Democrats. The state Constitution requires that lame-duck General Assemblies muster a three-fifths majority to pass any bills that take effect after the next May 31. […]

It’s understandable if Republicans feel a little panicky right now. Their party’s U.S. Senate candidate, Alan Keyes, was wiped out in the biggest Senate landslide in Illinois history. And they were stunned when longtime congressman Phil Crane, of the 8th Congressional District,lost his seat to a Democrat. These two striking events have some Republicans calling […]

Because most of you had other priorities — such as watching the Cardinals dispose of the Astros — I figured I’d do my civic duty and tell you about another thrilling match-up last Thursday night: the second debate between U.S. Senate candidates Barack Obama and Alan Keyes. The first Obama-Keyes debate, held at the Old […]