The Illinois Senate Republicans’ new leader John Curran told Capitol News Illinois the other day that there was nothing left to do on the abortion topic in Illinois. “The reality is, what else can we do here in Illinois?” Senator Curran said. “The laws of Illinois are more weighted towards guarantees of the rights to have an abortion than any other state in the nation. There's no further to go.”

Governor JB Pritzker’s administration recently used its annual Economic and Fiscal Policy Report to outline three new budget proposals. The report revised projected revenues upward by $3.69 billion for this fiscal year, but noted that most of the projected increase was from one-time sources, like an unexpected spike in the state’s Income Tax Refund Fund of $1.28 billion.

Representative Tim Ozinga (R-Mokena) made the classic blunder of not focusing on one election at a time. But his flub does give us an excuse to look at a few fundraising issues. It’s been no secret that Ozinga wanted to be the next House Republican Leader. But he hasn’t really been involved in many House Republican races this year, and then, the day before election day, all of a sudden reported giving his own campaign fund a million dollars.

I’m writing this a few days before election day. But from where I sit, if the so-called Workers’ Rights Amendment fails to pass muster with voters, a campaign fueled by the Illinois Policy Institute could take a big share of the credit. The proposed constitutional amendment is backed to the hilt by organized labor. They’ve raised $16 million to support their cause.

When Emerson College unveiled its latest Illinois poll last week, its press release included three “Key Takeaways.” At the very top of its list was this: “Fifty-two percent (52%) majority of voters think things in Illinois are on the wrong track, while 48% think things are headed in the right direction.” The college is based in Massachusetts, a liberal state with a popular Republican governor. A recent poll taken in Massachusetts by Suffolk University found that 59 percent believed their state was on the right track while 33 percent said it was on the wrong track.

House Speaker Chris Welch reported raising a whopping $14 million in the third quarter, with almost half of that, $6 million, coming from Governor JB Pritzker. That gives Speaker Welch a huge cash advantage for the home stretch over his Republican counterpart. Welch’s personal campaign committee reported raising $7 million between July 1 and September 30 and reported having $11.6 million cash on hand at the end.

The political-action committee affiliated with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools is always well-funded, well-organized, well-run, and often quite successful at electing legislative candidates who are supportive of their cause. But, unlike, say, Personal PAC, which focuses almost solely on the issue of abortion in its ubiquitous direct mailers, you don’t often see charter schools even mentioned in the cash-rich INCS Action’s mailers. And “INCS” is the only identifier on its mailers. They don’t mention the full name of the group itself.

“If we didn’t pass something, we wouldn’t have gotten anything from law enforcement. We wouldn’t have gotten a serious conversation,” claimed Representative La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) recently about why the SAFE-T Act was originally written and passed the way it was. Representative Ford was speaking about the cash-bail provisions within the SAFE-T Act during a public event in suburban Forest Park, according to the Forest Park Review.

The labor-union and trial-lawyer-backed All for Justice independent-expenditure committee has so far reported raising $3.5 million, with, I’m told, at least another $5 million in pledges. The committee’s sole purpose is to back the two Democratic candidates running for the Illinois Supreme Court, Appellate Justice Mary K O’Brien, and Judge Elizabeth Rochford. And its spending is finally beginning.

Far-right activist Dan Proft has proved time and time again that he is very effective at calling attention to himself and getting under Governor JB Pritzker’s skin in the worst way.

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