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 […]
Rich Miller
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
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 […]
Posted inOpinion
Republicans want gay marriage passed
Talk to just about any top Illinois Republican these days off the record, and they’ll freely admit that they want the state bill legalizing gay marriage passed as soon as possible. It’s not that they’re necessarily in favor of gay marriage, mind you. Many of them are publicly and privately opposed. Some of them do […]
Posted inOpinion
Will Bill or won’t Bill run for governor
Bill Daley called the other day. We estimated that it had been about three or four years since we had last spoken to each other, which is par for the course. Going back to at least 2001, Daley, the brother and son of former Chicago mayors, has mulled a bid for governor. The last time […]
Posted inOpinion
The state pension reform waiting game
“Frankly, I’m not sure they want it,” Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno said Tuesday about the Democratic legislative leaders and state pension reform. It sure looked like she was right last week, at least in the House, where Speaker Michael Madigan barely lifted a finger for any of the pension reform bills that were […]
Posted inOpinion
The day the bills stood still
Last Thursday was not exactly a banner day for the Illinois Senate Democratic leadership. In high profile moves, leadership’s attempts to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage stalled, as did bills on gun control. Even a much-needed spending bill was unable to move out of committee. Pension reform went nowhere. The biggest winners were cigarette […]
