Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch raised some eyebrows after he attended a meeting in suburban River Forest to talk about the proposed “O’Hare Flyer” project, which would run express commuter trains back and forth from downtown Chicago to O’Hare Airport. Welch told attendees he could prevent two state agency budgets from moving forward if he […]
Politics – Rich Miller
Posted inRich Miller
Paid influencers and political ads
My associate Isabel Miller and I worked on a story last week about paid influencers in campaigns. We decided to look into it after reading news reports about how the Chicago Teachers Union has been using paid influencers in its battle to control the elected Chicago school board and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is also […]
Posted inRich Miller
McCuskey agrees to resign as LIG
You may know that embattled Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey has agreed to resign his post by the end of September. But this sorry saga shouldn’t end there. The Legislative Ethics Commission should immediately launch an investigation into why so many women over the years have said they believed they were mistreated and even belittled […]
Posted inRich Miller
Legislature needs to question its inspector general
In the past week or so, three women have told stories about their dissatisfaction with the way they were treated by the state’s legislative inspector general. And it’s clear that at least three of the four legislative leaders are quickly becoming fed up with the LIG and that another leader may have trouble sustaining his […]
Posted inRich Miller
Groups eye Meta settlement money
Hours after the social media giant Meta agreed last Wednesday to settle a case brought by 47 state attorneys general and implement reforms to protect children from social media harms, the Illinois Federation of Teachers issued a demand that all of Illinois’ portion of the $17.1 billion settlement – $768 million – be designated “to […]
Posted inRich Miller
10 years at the top not guaranteed
After Michael J. Madigan’s 36 years as Illinois House speaker, a 10-year term limit on current and future speakers doesn’t seem like a lot of time in the big chair. Except it is. Nobody prior to Madigan had ever served 10 years as speaker in this state going back to when Illinois became a state […]
Posted inRich Miller
Welch discusses Benton investigation
House Speaker Chris Welch sat down for interviews with some selected reporters last week. He told most of them that his office had conducted an “informal investigation” into sexual harassment allegations against former Rep. Harry Benton (D-Plainfield) in 2023. Welch’s staff has not responded to our request for an interview (same goes for the Chicago […]
Posted inRich Miller
Welch pledges to seek more funds for Chicago schools
House Speaker Chris Welch promised the Chicago Teachers Union last week that he will “lead” the effort to send more state money to Chicago Public Schools during the upcoming fall veto session. Welch made his pledge in a CTU-posted video yesterday while holding a union poster blasting proposed CPS layoffs and budget cuts. “The state […]
Posted inRich Miller
GOP trails Dems in campaign cash
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 […]
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
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
Progressives push tax ideas
More than a year ago, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget was projecting a $3.2 billion deficit for what is now the current fiscal year. Part of the problem was that existing revenues were flat while spending was growing, according to the budget office. This is a recurring problem in Illinois. The previous fiscal […]
