(Chicago, IL) – July 30, 2010. Without fanfare, horns or trumpets, Governor Pat Quinn yesterday quietly signed a bill to reform the DuPage water board and ditch its tax without apparently securing support from the legislation’s sponsor to back a state pension bond bill. Quinn penned his approval of the measure, Senate Bill 580, that … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 29, 2010. The staff pay raise fiasco has fouled Governor Pat Quinn‘s effort to get back in the game. After trailing GOP opponent Bill Brady by only three points in a June Rasmussen poll, Quinn is now down by seven points according to a new poll released today: The latest Rasmussen … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) – July 28, 2010. It may be the dog days of summer, but Democratic state senate candidate John Mulroe (D-Chicago) is already on the political attack against GOP opponent Alderman Brian Doherty (R-41) in a race that is shaping up to be the hottest state senate contest in Chicago. Mulroe yesterday launched a … Continue reading
(Springfield, IL) — July 27, 2010. This is what statesmanship looks like. State Journal-Register political reporter Bernie Schoenberg today reports that State Senator Larry Bomke (R-Springfield) has asserted the kind leadership that has been gravely absent from GOP lawmakers until now. State Sen. Larry Bomke, R-Springfield, told Gov. Pat Quinn’s chief of staff Monday he … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 25, 2010. The XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna this week announced that a new vaginal gel has been shown to significantly reduce a woman’s risk of being infected with HIV, which is prompting a pledge of legislative action by State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago). Continue reading
(Springfield, IL) — July 23, 2010. Furlough days for thousands of state workers and much later Medicaid payments could be just the beginning. Governor Pat Quinn‘s office is, for the first time, acknowledging that the state may not get $750 million from Washington for the neediest families in Illinois. The so-called FMAP money — Federal … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 20, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today announced that in less than three months 22,162 people across the state have land jobs through the Put Illinois to Work employment program. “We have created more than 22,000 jobs that would not have been possible without Put Illinois to Work,” said Quinn. Through Put … Continue reading
(Evanston, IL) — July 20, 2010. Democratic State Representative candidate Daniel Biss of Evanston, who is seeking the Illinois House seat being vacated by Beth Coulson (R-Glencoe), today announced that his campaign raised over $167,000 in the first six months of 2010, closing June with $244,546.56 cash-on-hand. Biss’ GOP opponent, Hamilton Chang of Wilmette, raised … Continue reading
Guest Column by House Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang (D-Skokie) (Skokie, IL) — July 20, 2010. The Illinois economy has recently generated some welcome news on a couple fronts for both Illinois workers and Governor Pat Quinn. First, the Illinois minimum wage increased to $8.25 an hour on July 1, after increasing to $8.00 only … Continue reading
Governor Pat Quinn and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that construction will begin in early September on the Chicago to St. Louis high-speed rail route. Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 19, 2010. Some good news for beleaguered Democrats. Finally. According to a new Gallup poll, Democrats now lead GOP by six-points in the 2010 congressional elections. In the same week that the U.S. Senate passed a major financial reform bill touted as reining in Wall Street, Democrats pulled ahead of Republicans, … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) – July 19, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn’s campaign for governor today announced that it raised nearly $5.1 million in combined campaign contributions in the first half of 2010. The campaign had nearly $2.3 million cash in the bank on June 30th. Quinn’s campaign cash-on-hand equaled what GOP opponent State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) … Continue reading
Governor Pat Quinn on Saturday signed a bill that added teeth to state law to deter organized dogfights by imposing harsher criminal penalties for dog-fighting offenses. Continue reading
(Skokie, IL) — July 15, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today signed a bill into law that creates the Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission. “We must remember the tragedy of the Holocaust and other genocides that have occurred throughout history,” said Governor Quinn. “The Illinois Holocaust and Genocide Commission will remind everyone in Illinois of the … Continue reading
(Bloomington, IL) — July 16, 2010. State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) today announced that his gubernatorial campaign against Governor Pat Quinn has raised $3.6 million in campaign contributions through the first half of this year. Boy, that’s a lot of dough. In a report to be filed by July 20 with the State Board of … Continue reading
Governor Pat Quinn on Tuesday stretched his executive authority—along with his goodwill with Illinois lawmakers—and rewrote legislation to eliminate the requirement that Illinois residents must declare a party affiliation when voting in a primary election, and in doing so likely guaranteed its doom. Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 14, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn today the resignation of Kurt Friedenauer as Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice, stunning one top industry lobbyist. In a statement Quinn said: “I have accepted the resignation of Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice Director Kurt Friedenauer, effective July 31. I thank Director Friedenauer for … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) – July 9, 2010. The Chicago Tribune may hold a nearly 2 to 1 lead over the Chicago Sun-Times in print circulation, but unique visitors to the Sun-Times Web site may soon outstrip those to the Tribune’s if trends continue, according to a new survey of area newspapers’ Web site traffic. The Tribune … Continue reading
State Senator Dan Rutherford (R-Chenoa), who is running for Illinois Treasurer, last night filed his campaign finance report, with an eyeball popping $1,078,000 cash on hand. Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 10, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn is staring at another debt bomb. While Quinn has been struggling to pay nearly $6 billion in unpaid bills to state vendors and wrestling with a potential $4.1 billion loan to pay Illinois’ pension systems, Illinois has quietly borrowed billions from the federal government to replenish … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 7, 2010. What policy would State Senator Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) adopt toward gubernatorial staff salaries were he to become governor? Would he cut top staff salaries by 10%? The Associated Press yesterday revealed that Governor Pat Quinn has handed out 43 raises to 35 staffers, averaging 11.4%, over the last 15 … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 6, 2010. Oof. A new report by the Associated Press reveals that Governor Pat Quinn has handed out 43 raises to 35 staffers, averaging 11.4%, over the last 15 months. Some raises exceeded 20%. Can you spell b-o-n-e-h-e-a-d-e-d? Illinois is approximately .37¢ away from insolvency. It has a $13 billion deficit. … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 7, 2010. State Senator Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) surprised at least one local political observer by appointing Waukegan school board member and Democratic precinct captain Rita Mayfield-Jedkins to the Illinois House seat of the late State Rep. Eddie Washington (D-Waukegan) who died recently. Accord to Daily Herald reporter Russell Lissau, Link, … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 6, 2010. Illinois’ largest education employees’ organization today announced that it is “recommending” Governor Pat Quinn and his running mate Sheila Simon in the November 2010 general election. The Board of Directors for the Illinois Education Association, which backed Comptroller Dan Hynes in the Democratic primary over Quinn, voted overwhelmingly to … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 2, 2010. State Senator Terry Link (D-Vernon Hills) has hinted that he may push a surprise candidate for the Illinois State House seat of the late State Rep. Eddie Washington (D-Waukegan) who died recently. Accord to Daily Herald reporter Russell Lissau, Link, who is the Lake County Democratic Chairman, could engineer … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) — July 1, 2010. At the start of the new Illinois budget, Bill Brady and Pat Quinn yesterday were hurling some version of “fail” at each other in dueling statements. Welcome to the Illinois budget debate. Senator Brady was first out of the grate, criticizing Quinn on the new Fiscal Year 2011 budget … Continue reading
(Chicago, IL) – July 1, 2010. Governor Pat Quinn announced today that state funding for the Illinois AIDS Drug Assistance Program would be spared. In fact, Quinn will help more people. The program, which provides life-saving HIV medications to low-income people with HIV, will be sufficiently funded to “serve approximately 4,500 clients a month – … Continue reading
At a press conference in Chicago, Governor Pat Quinn today announced budget reductions of $1.4 billion, slicing $312 million from Illinois human services, $241 million from local Illinois schools, $100 million from Illinois colleges and universities, and $15 million from the Illinois State Police. Continue reading