21 Mar 2007

Quiet Legislative Leader Delivers a Loud Message

By Rich Miller

Illinois House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie usually hangs back and lets others make news. Since getting the number-two job in the House Democratic caucus in 1997, she hasn't been known for being way out front on major issues. And as far as I can remember, she's never once publicly criticized Governor Rod Blagojevich.

14 Mar 2007

Tax Issue Adds New Wrinkle to Debate Over Governor's Plans

By Administrator

Governor Rod Blagojevich proposed no direct property-tax relief during his annual budget address at the Statehouse last week, but afterwards he told me in an interview that he would back the idea if a crucial Senate Democrat demanded it.

07 Mar 2007

Former Staffer Shows That the Impossible Isn't

By Administrator

It's not often that someone who worked on a state legislative staff actually wins a campaign for himself, but it happened last week in Chicago.

Former House Democratic staffer Brendan Reilly won his aldermanic race against longtime Chicago Alderman Burton Natarus last week by about nine points, stunning the Chicago political world, which didn't think that Natarus - who joined the city council in 1972 - could be defeated. Reilly silenced the critics by bringing a new level of sophistication to the Chicago political game.

28 Feb 2007

Business Tax Proposal Would Earn Powerful Enemies

By Rich Miller

Two articles in recent days have shed a little bit more light on the as-yet-unconfirmed plan by Governor Rod Blagojevich to propose a gross-receipts tax on Illinois businesses. The tax would be levied on all corporate revenues, regardless of profitability or existing tax exemptions and loopholes.

21 Feb 2007

Statehouse Squabbling Could Hurt Obama in Illinois

By Rich Miller

Apparently, Governor Rod Blagojevich, Senate President Emil Jones, and House Speaker Michael Madigan can't get along enough yet to help Illinois' favorite son win the Democratic presidential nomination.

14 Feb 2007

Leaders Have Big Agendas, but Where Will the Money Come from?

By Rich Miller

Governor Rod Blagojevich has said he wants billions more a year for a universal-health-care plan. Last week, a coalition of business and labor groups called on the state to put $5 billion a year into transportation for five years. The Regional Transportation Authority estimates it needs $57 billion over 30 years to maintain, enhance, and expand transit services.

07 Feb 2007

Governor's Action Portends the "Mother of All Legislative Wars"

By Administrator

For months, most Statehouse observers have predicted a battle royale between the state's three top Democrats: Governor Rod Blagojevich, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Senate President Emil Jones.

The three men haven't been getting along, and the relationships between Madigan and Blagojevich, and between Madigan and Jones, are particularly strained. So far, Jones and Blagojevich are doing okay together, but that could change in a heartbeat if Blagojevich and Jones tangle over school funding. Jones wants a lot of money for schools, but Blagojevich refuses to raise taxes.

31 Jan 2007

Leader's Power Might Not Translate Into Promised Education Reform

By Administrator

Senate President Emil Jones talked for several minutes during a media availability the other day about his war theories.

Among other things, Jones recalled how Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pounded his desk during the United Nations debate over whether to allow China into the organization. Khrushchev failed to persuade the international body to admit his fellow Communist nation, but, as Jones said, not long afterwards China detonated a nuclear bomb in the atmosphere and the UN quickly relented, bringing China in and forcing Taiwan out.

24 Jan 2007

Is Obama the Next JFK?

By Rich Miller

My grandmother tells the story of when she met John F. Kennedy.

It was back in 1959, as Kennedy was still gearing up for his presidential run. Grandma and my grandfather, an active Teamsters Union member and a Democratic precinct committeeman in Kankakee, traveled to Chicago for a labor event featuring JFK.

Kennedy, the story goes, was working the room, and when he made it over to my grandparents he put his arm around my grandmother, kissed her on the cheek, and told my grandfather that he had a "beautiful wife."

Grandma swooned, of course, and decades later when I asked her how she reacted, she joked that she didn't wash that kissed spot on her face for two weeks. To this day, you can't say a bad word about JFK in front of Grandma for fear of risking the evil eye.

17 Jan 2007

Madigan Publicly Bows to "The Messiah"

By Rich Miller

You'd think that Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, who is forever being touted as one of the smartest politicians in Illinois history, would have realized long ago that Barack Obama was immensely popular and needed to be treated differently than others. Yet it wasn't until last week that Madigan finally offered a public bow to the man widely considered to be a top-tier candidate for the U.S. presidency in 2008 and who has a rock star's ability to turn grown men and women into giddy teenagers.

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