I’ve always believed that just because somebody claims to be a reformer, it doesn’t mean the person has the right solutions. Many years ago, an activist named Pat Quinn came up with an idea to change the Illinois Constitution. He used the petition process to get rid of a third of Illinois House members in […]
political columns
Posted inOpinion
Changing tunes on gay marriage
You can always tell when somebody is losing an argument because they are constantly backtracking and recalibrating. And it’s no different with gay marriage. Back in January, for instance, newly elected state Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove, freely admitted that gay marriage was at the heart of his desire to oust state GOP Chairman Pat […]
Posted inOpinion
The trustee fight fumes onward
A recent meeting between Metro East legislators and Gov. Quinn’s staff turned heated at times, and as a result nothing was accomplished in the standoff over Quinn’s appointments to the Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees. The governor’s three appointments to SIU’s board were unanimously rejected by the Senate in late February – the first […]
Posted inOpinion
Politics, politicians and pension reform, oh my
“Pardon me,” said Ty Fahner to a nearby microphone which he had accidentally bumped during testimony to the Illinois Senate Executive Committee last week. Fahner could probably be excused for apologizing to an inanimate object. The president of the Chicago-based, business-backed Civic Committee and self-styled pension expert had been forced to sit in the hearing […]
Posted inOpinion
Pension reform problems linger
House Speaker Michael Madigan was hoping last Thursday to avoid the same results as the previous week when he presented some new pension reform ideas. The previous week, one of his pension reform proposals received just one vote – his own. None of his other pension amendments received more than five votes. That wasn’t supposed […]
Posted inOpinion
Cartoonish charades at Statehouse
Nobody ever really knows what’s going through Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s head except for Madigan himself. So, the actual purpose of two highly choreographed gun control and pension reform debates last week ordered up by Madigan weren’t completely clear to anyone. That’s by design, of course. Madigan prefers to keep people in the dark […]
Posted inOpinion
Cost of inaction on concealed carry law
Illinois House Democrats were told during a private caucus meeting in Springfield last week that, despite what Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez says, inaction on concealed carry would have very serious consequences. As you most assuredly already know, a federal appellate court has given the General Assembly until June 8 to pass a new […]
Posted inOpinion
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 […]
