Capital Facts

State will have to show results from $123 million in anti-violence grants

Published by admin on Sat, 05/28/2022 - 9:36am

The long Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer and is perhaps best known in Chicago as the beginning of its long, hot season of gun violence. The morning-after news coverage typically notes that the holiday “was the most violent weekend of the year so far,” or some such thing.
You’ve probably seen the polling which shows crime isn’t the super-hot political issue it’s often portrayed to be. But don’t kid yourself. It’s still high enough on voters’ lists to make a difference, usually coming in second place behind economic issues.

Census Bureau owes Illinois some answers

Published by admin on Sun, 05/22/2022 - 1:26pm

Illinois peaked at 27 US House seats after the 1910 Census and subsequent reapportionment. That lasted until the 1940 Census, when Illinois dropped to 26 seats in Congress. We’ve been steadily losing ground ever since.
It’s not that we lost population, it’s that other states in the West and the South grew much faster. California had just 11 congressional districts as a result of the 1910 Census. It now has 53.

Poll: GOP candidates in a tight race

Published by admin on Fri, 05/13/2022 - 5:20pm

Gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin has spent tens of millions of billionaire Ken Griffin’s dollars introducing himself to Republican primary voters.
Yet, a recent poll taken for WGN TV by Emerson College Polling shows he’s leading Sen. Darren Bailey by just 4 percentage points, 24-20, with 19 percent split between the other four candidates and undecideds “leading” with 37 percent.

GOP opponents need to call out Irvin’s gaffes

Published by admin on Sun, 05/08/2022 - 10:47am

Almost every weekday since the beginning of February, the Richard Irvin campaign has sent at least one press release to reporters about a host of issues, from crime to taxes to corruption to former House Speaker Michael Madigan to, well, you name it.

Illinois House Speaker tells incumbents to get to work

Published by admin on Fri, 04/29/2022 - 4:53pm

I’ve mentioned before that House Speaker Chris Welch has said since the day he was elected to his chamber’s top job last year that he is fully committed to protecting all of his incumbents, whether in the primary or in the general election. That wasn’t always the case with his predecessor, House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Illinois’ coming budget will be tight on paper

Published by admin on Sun, 04/17/2022 - 11:48am

The Illinois Senate adjourned its session April 9 just after 3 o’clock in the morning. The House adjourned about three hours later, as the sun was coming up.
This wasn’t the first time that the chambers worked into the wee smalls to finish their work, including a budget, and it probably won’t be the last, but it’s getting to be a bit much.
Senate President Don Harmon told me afterward that, in the future, he would like to “avoid” adjourning session that late.

State tax cuts result from election year politics

Published by admin on Sat, 04/09/2022 - 12:11pm

Last year’s state budget talks were dragged into the bitter fight between the Senate and the House and the governor’s office over a massive bill to regulate carbon-based power plants. As a result, the House hurriedly and angrily jammed an appropriations bill over to the Senate before it could be fully checked for accuracy. Both chambers had to return during the summer to fix the mistakes.
And a week before the end of this year’s spring session, tensions started showing again.

The irony of Democrat’s ad against Irvin

Published by admin on Sun, 04/03/2022 - 1:33pm

As you probably already know, the Democratic Governors Association recently launched a TV ad blasting Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin for claiming to be a crimefighter while having defended dangerous criminals as a defense attorney.

Illinois' $2.7 billion paydown on unemployment fund

Published by admin on Mon, 03/28/2022 - 1:36pm

After the Illinois House and Senate voted to pass legislation to partially pay down the state's unemployment insurance trust fund debt, top Democratic leaders gathered for a Statehouse press conference to boast about their accomplishment.
Yes, they admitted, it was only a partial pay-down. The debt is $4.5 billion, and they patched it with $2.7 billion in federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act. But the Democrats pointed out Illinois is using a higher percentage of its federal ARPA aid on its debt than surrounding states, including neighboring Indiana.

Union wants to oust Democratic senator

Published by admin on Sat, 03/19/2022 - 11:26am

The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police's top campaign priority this spring is defeating Sen. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago) in the Democratic primary. The police group is backing Chicago police detective Erin Jones, who not long ago was described as a "loyal member" of the Northwest Side GOP Club.
The previous practice in that area of fielding Republican candidates against Democrats in the general election has simply not worked.