The Illinois Education Association has always leaned more Republican than its Illinois Federation of Teachers counterpart, but at least one of the IEA’s endorsements raised a few eyebrows this year. Conservative state Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, was endorsed by the IEA last month. The Illinois AFL-CIO assigns the Metro East legislator a rating of […]
Capitol Fax
Posted inOpinion
Rauner ruse or candor
“We should have billions of dollars every year as part of our budget process … (to) maintain and expand our infrastructure,” Bruce Rauner said last week, according to the Chicago Tribune. Rauner has been doing his best to woo the road builders all year, and he was speaking to the Illinois Farm Bureau, which has […]
Posted inOpinion
Promote the vote
Some recent Chicago Tribune poll results appear to indicate that support for raising the minimum wage in the state’s largest city may be enough to increase voter turnout for a nonbinding November ballot referendum. The poll found that 84 percent of registered Chicago voters support a city task force recommendation to increase the minimum wage […]
Posted inOpinion
Fair share for Edgar?!
I’m not sure why, but the surprise appearance by former Gov. Jim Edgar at the Illinois State Fair’s Republican Day last week didn’t generate much media coverage. Despite the fact that Edgar is a Republican, this was not an easy “get” for Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner. I’m told it took weeks of careful wooing […]
Posted inOpinion
Feds back off of Ford
As you probably know by now, the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago has agreed to drop all felony charges against Illinois state Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, and has charged him instead with a simple misdemeanor. The original 17 federal counts of bank fraud and submitting false information to a bank each carried potential sentences of […]
Posted inOpinion
Positively Pat
Gov. Pat Quinn’s new TV ad is 60 seconds of one positive message after another. “Pat Quinn sees problems, takes action and gets the job done,” the ad claims. “Now, Illinois is making a comeback,” it continues. But the spot is being slammed by longtime campaign insiders in both parties as “spitting in the wind.” […]
Posted inOpinion
Frerichs needs to up his game
Back in January, state Sen. Michael Frerichs formally kicked off his campaign for Illinois state treasurer and posted a video online touting the fact that he’d ended “free, lifetime health care for state legislators.” Actually, Frerichs had voted against that bill in the General Assembly. Frerichs’ campaign had to pull the video and replace it […]
Posted inOpinion
Public’s thoughts on Rauner’s economic plan
“This morning,” 1,063 respondents were told the evening of July 17 during a Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll, “Republican candidate for governor Bruce Rauner released an economic plan for Illinois.” “That plan calls for a freeze on property taxes and rolling back the 2010 tax increase. It also implements a new tax on services such […]
Posted inOpinion
Survey says: Transparency hurts Rauner and Quinn
A new Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll found Republican Bruce Rauner leading Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn 51-39. That’s pretty much the same margin the pollster found for another client a month ago. The poll of 940 likely voters was taken July 8 and has a margin of error of ±3.2 percent. 30 percent of the […]
Posted inOpinion
Remap petition problems
Almost 90 percent of the “Yes for Independent Maps” petition entries tossed as invalid by the Illinois State Board of Elections this month were for people who were either not registered to vote or weren’t registered to vote at the address shown on the petitions, official documents show. The group is attempting to get a […]
Posted inOpinion
Magic money? Rauner’s state savings
“Today, I laid out more than $1 billion in structural reforms,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner boasted to his supporters via a blast email last week. Baloney. Rauner’s press conference to announce a billion dollars in alleged budget savings was an almost total farce. Fully half of what Rauner said he could save – $500 […]
Posted inOpinion
Legislative session rundown
There were lots and of losers during the state legislative session which ended last month. But there were a few winners, so let’s take a look at them. First up, Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Rauner. Never before has a political party nominated a gubernatorial candidate who’s had more impact on a legislative session than Rauner […]
