By now, it should be self evident that Bruce Rauner has locked up pretty much all the big money in the Republican primary race for governor. Last week’s pension reform vote provides even more evidence. Rauner has built an impenetrable fortress of high-dollar campaign contributors. Ron Gidwitz, long known in GOP circles for being the […]
Illinois politics
Posted inOpinion
Unions mull endorsement options
Illinois union leaders are reportedly mulling several options about what to do in the governor’s race. But the only thing the leaders appear to agree on so far is that anti-union Republican gazillionaire Bruce Rauner cannot be allowed to win. Some union honchos are looking at endorsing a candidate in the Republican primary. State Sen. […]
Posted inOpinion
Recent numbers on governor’s race
Back in mid-August, near the end of his summertime TV advertising blitz, Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner scored 14 percent in a Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll of likely GOP primary voters. That was up a tick from the 12 percent he got in a June 20 poll by the same firm. His campaign has […]
Posted inOpinion
Miller on Madigan
The rich irony of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan denouncing somebody else for attempting to be a “kingmaker” is so obvious and laughable that I can’t help but wonder why a guy who’s been a take no prisoners kingmaker himself for so long in this state would ever think of saying such a thing. You […]
Posted inOpinion
Gunning for legislation
Back when Richard M. Daley was Chicago’s mayor, hizzoner would hold a big, splashy press conference every year with cops and prosecutors and crime victims to unveil his new state gun control legislation. The Chicago media poobahs would shout their huzzahs, the NRA would fume and raise tons of money from angry members and then […]
Posted inOpinion
Rundown on Rauner
Bruce Rauner has closer ties to top Democrats in this state and nation than many Democrats do, is pro-choice and reluctant to say where he stands on gay marriage, so you wouldn’t think he’d have much chance at winning a Republican primary for governor. But the retired multi-millionaire is running a pretty smart campaign and […]
Posted inOpinion
Hoping for a humdinger
In May, George Ryan’s son revealed that his father, late of the Executive Mansion and the federal pen, was writing his memoirs. Ryan fils promised it would be a “humdinger,” a “no holds barred book” that will “tell it like it is.” We can only hope. It can’t be easy for a politician to plainly […]
Posted inOpinion
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Put voters on trial next
At last, we have a verdict on the governor. Within hours of its announcement, deliberations began in the press to decide the guilt or innocence of the people who elected him twice as Illinois’s chief executive officer. The verdict? The voters are guilty of apathy, ignorance, scandal fatigue and an insensitivity to manipulation that rivals […]
Posted inOpinion
Something about a man in uniform
You wouldn’t think it was possible for a soldier to shoot himself in the back while marching toward the front line, but Congressman Mark “Don’t Get Fooled Again” Kirk has managed to do it several times. By all accounts a capable intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, Mr. Kirk felt compelled to make himself out […]
Posted inNews
A right to ride
Horseback riding has long been a part of Illinois history, but the state’s equestrians want to ensure their right to ride the trails at state parks, nature preserves and recreation areas. Though many commercial equestrian camps go back 40 or 50 years, horseback riders could still be denied access to public lands, since there is […]
