Let’s take a quick look at the campaign finance disclosure reports filed last week by some of the statewide candidates, shall we? • Bill Brady – It goes without saying that the mere $66,104 Brady reported raising during the third quarter was beyond pathetic. But here’s how bad the Republican gubernatorial candidate’s performance really was: […]
Gov. Pat Quinn
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Quinn vows to veto ADM, cites pension reform ‘issue of a lifetime’
Gov. Pat Quinn refused to say for several days whether he’d support a $1.2 million a year tax break for Archer Daniels Midland to move 100 jobs out of Decatur and open up a world headquarters and new tech center in Chicago. But last week he made it clear that without pension reform, the ADM […]
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Why Quinn is appealing
A bipartisan chorus seemed to rise as one last week to urge Gov. Pat Quinn not to appeal a ruling by a Cook County judge. The judge ruled that the governor had violated the state Constitution when he vetoed lawmaker salaries last summer. Quinn said he vetoed the appropriations because he was tired of waiting […]
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Tweaking pension reform
Several members of the Illinois General Assembly’s special pension reform committee told me last week that they believed a final proposal would emerge within the next week to 10 days. The conference committee has been working on a solution to the state’s pension problems since June, after urgings by Gov. Pat Quinn to find a […]
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The check’s in the mail, veto out of mind – not!
House Speaker Michael Madigan has always strongly guarded the powers of the General Assembly as a coequal branch of government, so it was a little surprising when he appeared to support Gov. Pat Quinn’s line-item veto of legislative salaries back in mid July. The governor vetoed the salaries in retaliation for the GA’s failure to […]
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The good, the bad and the potential ugly
Gov. Pat Quinn is leading his sole Democratic primary rival, and challenger Bill Daley will have some serious problems with his blue chip résumé, according to a new Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll. The poll of 1,394 likely Democratic primary voters found Quinn leading Daley by five points, 38-33. That’s exactly where the two stood […]
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Daley takes his gloves off
I think a lot of people believed that if Bill Daley ran for governor his campaign would be as bland and vanilla as his public persona has been over the decades. Instead, he’s turned into the fieriest candidate in the race so far. Daley is even “out-angering” wealthy Republican financier Bruce Rauner, who has tried […]
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Latest numbers in governor’s race
In a sign that some truly awful publicity for her father may be hurting her possible gubernatorial bid, Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s poll numbers have plunged in the past several months. And Bill Daley has considerably improved his standing since he announced his candidacy. Back in January, a We Ask America poll had Ms. Madigan […]
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Gay marriage bill failure and the Black Caucus
There’s more than enough blame to go around regarding the failure of the gay marriage bill during the final days of the General Assembly’s spring session, which ended May 31. Gov. Pat Quinn knew that African-American House members were reluctant to support the bill, mainly because of pressure from their churches. So, why did he […]
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Bad start to Quinn’s re-election effort
“Off topic? I can’t imagine what that would be,” cracked Gov. Pat Quinn last week during a press conference. Just hours before, his lieutenant governor had announced that she would not be Quinn’s 2014 running mate. Gov. Quinn usually does a pretty good job during his press conferences of convincing reporters to wait to ask […]
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Illinois: the nearly ungovernable state
Gov. Pat Quinn used the phrase “our Illinois” almost 30 times last week in one form or another during his annual State of the State address. “In our Illinois, everyone should have access to decent healthcare,” Quinn said. “In our Illinois, working people find good jobs not just for today but for tomorrow.” “In our […]
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Polls peg Madigan above Quinn and Daley
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that a poll taken last Wednesday, Jan. 30 of 1,255 likely Illinois Democratic primary voters shows Attorney General Lisa Madigan leading Gov. Pat Quinn by a very large margin. Madigan also leads Quinn and former White House chief of staff Bill Daley in a three-way contest, according to […]
