Capital Facts

19 Democrats who refused Madigan did the right thing

Published by admin on Sat, 06/21/2025 - 1:20pm

I reached out last week to several members of the “19” – the Democratic House members who refused to vote to re-elect House Speaker Michael Madigan in 2021, thereby forcing him into retirement.
I asked for their reaction to Madigan’s 90-month federal prison sentence handed down a few days earlier. Because it was a holiday (Father’s Day), I didn’t expect to hear much back.

Pritzker said he’ll stand in the way of ICE

Published by admin on Sat, 06/14/2025 - 3:10pm

As I write this, multiple news outlets have reported that the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is preparing to deploy its Special Response Teams to five major US cities, including Chicago, in the very near future.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told reporters last week: “There will be tactical teams, mini-tanks, other tools they use in which they plan to do raids, as we saw in Los Angeles.”

Lawmakers run out of time on energy bill

Published by admin on Sun, 06/08/2025 - 11:36am

I asked Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch last week about the failure to pass an omnibus energy bill (the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act) during the just-ended spring legislative session.
“I think the same thing that happened on energy happened on all the things, you know. Big bills take time,” Welch said. “And I really do believe it's important that we take the time to get it right and make sure we produce the best results for everyone.”

IL may have a fascinating campaign season

Published by admin on Sun, 06/01/2025 - 12:18pm

As I write this column, the spring legislative session is a day away from adjournment. Nothing of great importance has cleared both chambers.
So, there’s no point in writing about any of that. I’ll let you know my thoughts next week.
Let’s discuss a different topic instead.

Illinois facing Medicaid cuts for 500,000

Published by admin on Sun, 05/25/2025 - 5:14pm

The US House’s Energy and Commerce Committee released its recommendations for budget reconciliation early last week. A preliminary review by the Congressional Budget Office projected that, if implemented, at least 8.6 million Americans would lose their Medicaid coverage during the coming decade.
That translates to well over 300,000 Illinoisans.

Illinois Democrats oust one of their own

Published by admin on Sat, 05/17/2025 - 5:00pm

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch took the extraordinary actions last week of permanently kicking Rep. Fred Crespo (D- Hoffman Estates) out of the House Democratic caucus, stripping him of his legislative staff, removing him from his appropriations committee chair’s position and booting him from the bicameral Legislative Audit Commission.
Speaker Welch also suspended a Democratic staffer who reportedly helped Crespo prepare an alternative budget plan, which is what got both people axed.

The party’s over for state revenue forecast

Published by admin on Sat, 05/10/2025 - 11:27am

I spent some time talking with a top legislative budget negotiator last week who said rank and file legislators will very soon have to come to terms with a state budget environment unlike anything many have ever seen before.
The “budgeteer” didn’t know yet how things would shake out, but the person was adamant that weak revenues combined with total uncertainty from both the federal government and in the national economy meant the new state budget should most definitely not be overloaded with spending.

Pritzker tries to rally “do-nothing” Democrats

Published by admin on Sun, 05/04/2025 - 9:33am

During a rip-roaring speech in New Hampshire last week, Gov. JB Pritzker
called for mass national protests and “disruption,” assailed “do-nothing” Democrats for their “simpering timidity” and labeled President Donald Trump a “madman” who cannot be reasoned with.
The Jewish Ukrainian-American governor said of Trump: “Stop tearing down the Constitution in the name of my ancestors. Do not claim that your authoritarian power grabs are about antisemitism. When you destroy social justice, you are disparaging the very foundation of Judaism.”

The feds need to build a better case

Published by admin on Sun, 04/27/2025 - 3:19pm

As you likely know by now, a federal jury deadlocked last week on all three corruption charges against Sen. Emil Jones, III (D-Chicago).
US District Judge Andrea Wood declared a mistrial after polling individual jurors and arriving at the conclusion that they could not possibly reach a verdict.
When you think of the Chicago US Attorney’s legendary Public Corruption & Organized Crime Unit, the thing that immediately comes to mind is its hugely successful conviction rate – mid-to-high 90 percentile.
But the unit has run into some serious trouble lately.

Illinois in for a very rough fiscal road

Published by admin on Sun, 04/13/2025 - 1:12pm

Gov. JB Pritzker said last week that the extreme uncertainty with the US government and the international economy might mean that the legislature may have to reconvene to reconfigure the state budget after it adjourns at the end of next month.
“It may very well be that we're going to have to come back at some point, depending on what the president does,” Pritzker said during an unrelated press conference.