Saturday, April 13, 2013
The Chicago Tribune reported this week Gov. Quinn is looking for ways to tighten Illinois' impending conceal carry law. What do you think? Should St. Charles, Batavia and Geneva be able to decide on conceal carry?
- POLICE & FIRE
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Saturday, April 13
Gov. Pat Quinn said earlier this week he thinks Illinois communities should be able to exert some local control when it comes to a state conceal carry gun law, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. The state is working to create a concealed carry law by the June 9 deadline. A federal court ruled late last year that Illinois’ ban on conceal carry was unconstitutional. "I am not excited about this at all," the Tribune reported Quinn as saying. "If this has to happen, it has to have the proper restrictions and limitations... I think we should make sure it's very tight and I think local communities, wherever they are, should have the option to make it as tight as possible in their community." Quinn also has stated his opposition to …
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Republicans Jim Oberweis and Karen McConnaughay, as you might expect, say this week's budget address is too heavy on spending and short on leadership. What do you think?
State Sens. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) and Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles) each reacted separately to Gov. Pat Quinn's March 6 budget address, but the theme is pretty much the same: too much spending and not enough leadership. Oberweis pointed out "the extreme problems caused by years of offering too many pension sweeteners without meeting state funding obligations." “He knows the importance of reforming that system; however, he has not demonstrated the leadership needed to solve this problem,” Oberweis said. The 25th District senator said he is willing to work in a bipartisan manner to address Illinois’ budget crisis, but Quinn and Democrat legislative leaders first need to start working together. “Not only do the Democrats have …
Saturday, January 19, 2013
State government grows in the dark, like a fungus. • Bill Daley has an idea to take the party out of state elections. • Time magazine mourns for Illinois.
When Gov. Pat Quinn took office in 2009, he promised to take aim at state boards and commissions stocked with politically connected folks drawing large salaries with little oversight into their activities. He would pare down those panels and save you money. Better Government Association investigative reporter Barbara Rose this month looked into whether Quinn delivered: "... more than three years into Quinn’s watch little has changed, except the number of such units is growing. As troubling, many don’t comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, according to a report last year by state Auditor General William Holland." In fact, the governor's office is having a hard time keeping up with it all. "With over 322 boards and commissions, …
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Governor Pat Quinn meets with area legislators to discuss pension reform, with hopes for action by Jan. 9.
Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday met with DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin and other Republican legislators to push for pension reform by Jan. 9, the end of the current legislative session. “Every day that urgently needed action on pension reform is delayed, the problem gets worse," Quinn said in a statement. "As elected leaders, we have a responsibility to put politics aside and enact a solution that prevents skyrocketing pension costs from squeezing out core services like education, public safety and health care. We can do that now and we should not wait another day." Without pension reform, the unfunded liability grows by $17.1 million every day, according to a press release from DuPage County. According to the Pew Center for the States…
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Take the Patch Poll: Does Pat Quinn deserve re-election or would you put another Democrat on the ballot in 2014?
Pat Quinn is so unpopular, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey, that Lisa Madigan and Bill Daley would easily beat him in a Democratic primary while Kirk Dillard and Dan Rutherford would topple him in the general election. Quinn says he's going to run for re-election in 2014, but as 2012 comes to an end only 25 percent of Illinois voters approve of the job he's doing as governor. Public Policy Polling says 64 percent of voters disapprove of Quinn's performance — "making him the most unpopular governor PPP has polled on anywhere in the country this year." And there seems to be good reason for that. Last week, 24/7 Wall St. published a ranking of all 50 states, and Illinois emerges as the third-worst-run state in America, …
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Durbin and Kirk support $150 million loan for SimpleHx • Few approve of Quinn • Convicts collect $2 million in unemployment • Poll: Biggert-Foster very close • State House candidate's domestic battery case dropped with scant attention.
One aspect of Obamacare is drawing bipartisan support — at least in Illinois. Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Mark Kirk both back an outfit called SimpleHx, which wants a $150 million federal loan to establish the state's first health insurance co-op under the president's federal healthcare law. The people behind SimpleHx met at Northwestern University last year while pursuing their MBAs, according to Modern Healthcare reporter Kristen Schorsch. SimpleHx is competing against four proposals, including one backed by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, a trade group founded in 1935 that represents more than 150 local hospitals and health care organizations. If the proposals are similar, in terms of promises to save money and …
Sunday, August 19, 2012
As we start a new week, it's always good to get caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened last week.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, August 19, 2012
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Watchdog, formerly Illinois Statehouse News. SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Democrats had a no-good, very bad week, starting Wednesday when disgruntled state workers and retirees booed and heckled them off the stage during the usually upbeat Governor’s Day rally at the Illinois State Fair. It ended Friday, when lawmakers called back for a taxpayer-funded special session by Gov. Pat Quinn were unable to come to any kind of agreement on pension reform for the state, which continues to drown in pension debt. Jeers for Quinn, other Democratic leaders at state fair Thousands of people gathered at the Illinois State Fair Wednesday, officially “Governor’s Day” at the fair…
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Letter to the Editor: With a call from Gov. Pat Quinn, the General Assembly will hold a special session Friday to determine the next step in pension reform.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, August 16, 2012
On Friday (Aug. 17, 2012), Gov. Quinn has called a Special Session of the General Assembly that will cost Illinois taxpayers an extra $40,000 and will be as good for us as a deep-fried Twinkie at the State Fair. I hope that the Pension Crisis will be resolved, and I will reintroduce a practical compromise—with some improvements—that I have sponsored for the past three years. However, you and I both recognize that it is more likely that the public employee union alliance with the Quinn-Madigan-Cullerton triumvirate will continue to protect the insolvent but lucrative-for-them "status quo." The longer this problem remains unsolved, the more these special interests benefit ... but the worse other priorities like education, social services …
Sunday, August 5, 2012
As we start a new week, it's always good to get caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened last week.
- GOVERNMENT
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Sunday, August 5, 2012
Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Watchdog, formerly Illinois Statehouse News. SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Pat Quinn increased transparency in one part of state government this week, but his own office failed to release emails that could shine light on his handling of public discourse about prison closures. Prepaid tuition fund to become more transparent Illinois families who invested in the state’s troubled prepaid tuition program will enjoy more transparency in the system because of legislation signed into law Wednesday. The bill, House Bill 3923, requires meetings about the state’s prepaid tuition fund, known as College Illinois!, to be open to the public under the state’s Open Meetings Act. The …
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Drought 2012: Of the 102 counties in the state, only four—Kane, DuPage, Will and Cook—have not been declared disaster areas due to the drought.
- GOVERNMENT
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Thursday, August 2, 2012
Kane County is one of only four counties in Illinois not to be declared drought-disaster areas by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as of Wednesday. Jeff Squibb, a spokesnman for the Illinois Department of Agriculture, said the classification by the U.S. Department of Agriculture is automatically awarded before the end of the growing season if a county has surpassed eight weeks in a state of severe or extreme drought as set by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Kane County—as well as DuPage, Will and Cook counties—remain in the moderate drought category. That said, it's likely the remaining counties will eventually be added to the list if conditions continue, Squibb said. Up until this week, only 40 counties qualified for disaster relief. On …
Kurt Kasules
12:13 pm on Sunday, April 14, 2013
There needs to be a single standard set of minimum regulations across the state. Making multiple sets of controls just makes the lawabiding citizen into a "criminal" by their deliberate design. Multiple regulations are by design our "leaders" way of criminalizing and controlling the lawabiding citizen. "Gun Control" is the idiots way of facing this problem. "Crime Control" of gangs and other … more ›