Capital Facts

Ditch the hokey straw bales and reboot the day

Published by admin on Mon, 07/09/2018 - 11:33am

    Back in the old, old days, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley would pack passenger trains full of loyalists and send them all to the Illinois State Fair’s Democrat Day rally, where they were treated to rousing speeches by party leaders and candidates.  Gov. Rod Blagojevich kept that tradition alive on a somewhat smaller scale by chartering buses filled with supporters.  

Rauol leads Harold in early attorney general race

Published by admin on Sat, 06/30/2018 - 11:49am

 

A political action committee run by top officials of Operating Engineers Local 150 reported a $255,000 contribution last week from a “dark money” organization controlled by the same Local 150 honchos.

The anti-Madigan message might give an edge

Published by admin on Mon, 06/25/2018 - 10:38am

    Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan will be on the ballot in just one of Illinois’ 118 House districts this November, but his name and reputation will be featured in electoral battles throughout the state as Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Republican Party use Madigan against every Democrat from JB Pritzker on down to maybe even mosquito abatement district races. Can his lousy statewide image be used to defeat his fellow Democrats?

Poll numbers say Dems need to get to work

Published by admin on Mon, 06/18/2018 - 2:10pm

    According to a recent Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll, Democrat JB Pritzker leads Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner by nine points, 36-27, with 26 percent choosing an unnamed third-party candidate and 11 percent undecided. In other words, slightly more people said they preferred third party and/or were undecided than supported the frontrunner Pritzker.

Mapes' #MeToo mistake, he had to go

Published by admin on Sun, 06/10/2018 - 4:45pm

 

If you ask anyone at the Statehouse about House Speaker Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff Tim Mapes, they'll all say he "made the trains run on time.”

Pritzker’s ‘think big’ campaign aiming for $30 million

Published by admin on Mon, 05/28/2018 - 9:29am

 

For weeks now, some Democrats have been wondering if their party intends to run a “coordinated campaign” this year and have asked what it might look like.  A coordinated campaign means all the party’s candidates are working together under one umbrella group.

Rauner puts death penalty on the campagin trail

Published by admin on Mon, 05/21/2018 - 12:22pm

 

Last week’s press conference announcing his latest amendatory veto was, without a doubt, the best press pop Gov. Bruce Rauner has had since he fired his top staff last July and brought in that Illinois Policy Institute crowd (which he also fired). 

The insanity behind Illinois’ budget process

Published by admin on Mon, 05/14/2018 - 9:31am

 

“Nothing’s more important for a governor than having a good budget because that allows you to manage the state to do your job.”

Let that recent quote from former Gov. Jim Edgar as reported by the State Journal-Register sink in for a bit. 

Higher education should be next for reform

Published by admin on Mon, 05/07/2018 - 10:15am

    Eastern Illinois University’s legislative liaison Katie Anselment had some strong words for legislators during an Illinois Senate Higher Education Committee hearing last week.
    Anselment testified against a bill that would create a pilot program to allow a Downstate community college to offer nursing bachelor’s degrees. The four-year universities view this legislation as a dangerous slippery slope toward turning community colleges into full-on competitors.

Whose ads will hit the airwaves first?

Published by admin on Mon, 04/30/2018 - 11:33am

    Believe it or not, one of the questions I’m asked the most these days is: “When will Gov. Rauner and JB Pritzker start airing their general election TV ads?”
    A few weeks ago, Chicago pundit Dick Simpson predicted to Crain’s Chicago Business that the new campaign TV ads would start “any minute.”  He went on to say that both candidates will be worried about the other candidate getting out front.