The Illinois Republican Party filed its quarterly campaign finance report on the July 15 deadline. The party reported having just $223,000 in the bank. The next day, the party sent a letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections saying they were “reconciling” their records after a leadership change, and then noted that their actual […]
Gov. JB Pritzker
Posted inRich Miller
More budget fallout
About a week after the state budget passed both chambers in the dark of night, Attorney General Kwame Raoul spoke to the City Club of Chicago to complain that his budget was cut by $10 million. “For every dollar of General Revenue Fund spending on the attorney general’s office, we return $21. Anybody who has […]
Posted inRich Miller
The AFL-CIO and endorsements
The news earlier this month that the Illinois AFL-CIO has “deferred” all decisions on legislative and statewide endorsements in the upcoming fall election generated quite a bit of headlines. “Springfield not only failed to advance key priorities, but the process by which legislation was considered fell short of what working people deserve,” a statement by […]
Posted inRich Miller
Pritzker offers some lobbying advice to Chicago Bears
Gov. JB Pritzker last week squarely placed the responsibility for passing a Chicago Bears stadium bill on the team itself and had some unsolicited lobbying advice for the Bears as he attempted to brush off his own session attendance issues. The governor continued to downplay his own role in passing a stadium or stadium-related bill, […]
Posted inRich Miller
Inside the Bears stadium saga
Six days before the last day of the spring state legislative session, Sen. Bill Cunningham (D-Chicago) gave me two big reasons why it was so difficult to push a Bears stadium bill across the finish line. Cunningham, as you know, is the chief sponsor of the Senate’s Bears bill. 1. Every stadium-related legislation passed in […]
Posted inRich Miller
List of proposed budget cuts circulates
In response to a question last week from my associate Isabel Miller, Gov. JB Pritzker said he didn’t think a group of progressive legislators could pass their progressive revenue bills through both chambers by the end of the spring session. “They’ve been working very hard on getting something done,” Pritzker said of the bicameral progressive […]
Posted inRich Miller
Legislation stalled as May 31 adjournment nears
Every year when the legislature arrives at mid-May, it’s always tempting to look around, see the absence of real bicameral movement on legislation and conclude that nothing’s gonna happen in time for the scheduled May 31 adjournment. Succumbing to that temptation this year may not be a bad bet, but things can change. Right now, […]
Posted inRich Miller
Bears stadium bill advances
“We’re almost there” on a Bears stadium bill, Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) told some sports radio hosts on a Friday morning before the House returned to Springfield for three days of session last week. “We’re very close.” Asked if the rumor spread by sports business pundit Marc Ganis earlier that week was true about House […]
Posted inRich Miller
Big spending doesn’t guarantee victory
One of the biggest stories to come out of election day was that several candidates with the most money came up short. The obvious example is the race for U.S. Senate, where U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi reportedly spent $29 million on TV ads and benefited from another $10 million spent by the crypto industry against […]
Posted inRich Miller
Hallucinatory campaigns
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you likely know that former President Bill Clinton seemed to say that he flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet with JB Pritzker and his spouse – after saying that it was likely that Epstein as well as his notorious co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell were passengers on every flight he took […]
Posted inRich Miller
Pritzker’s contribution to Croke
Illinois comptroller candidate state Rep. Margaret Croke (D-Chicago) reported receiving the maximum campaign contribution of $72,800 from Gov. JB Pritzker on Feb. 19. Since then, Pritzker has appeared in some Croke campaign ads. The day before the Pritzker contribution was reported, I spoke with incumbent Comptroller Susana Mendoza about the governor’s support of Croke – […]
Posted inRich Miller
State seeks revenue streams
As I write this, Gov. JB Pritzker is preparing to give his annual budget address. It’s an unenviable task. Earlier this month, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget released a report showing federal tax cuts caused a $587 million reduction in state revenues this fiscal year. The governor announced last month that he was […]
