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 […]
Politics – Rich Miller
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 […]
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 […]
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Independent campaign expenditures rise
Independent campaign expenditures have skyrocketed this year in state legislative races. All of these numbers were current as of 4:20 p.m. Friday, March 13, when I finished writing this column. Independent expenditure committees are not allowed to coordinate their spending with candidates, ergo the “independent” label. As with the federal level, they are also not […]
Posted inOpinion
Teachers’ unions slam state budget
As expected, we did not see a whole lot of spending increases in Gov. JB Pritzker’s state budget proposal last week. Last year, Pritzker said his budget limited discretionary spending to less than a 1% increase. The plan unveiled last week limits discretionary spending to less than a half a point increase. An education funding […]
