Results tagged “housespeaker”

John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, will visit Illinois next Wednesday, appearing at a fundraiser at the Rich Harvest Farms golf course in Sugar Grove to raise money for 14th District Congressional candidate Jim Oberweis. Oberweis's campaign spokesman Bill Pascoe said the appearance will give Oberweis a boost with independents as well as an infusion of cash heading into the the March 8 special election to choose a successor to former House Speaker Dennis Hastert. "Republicans are united and energized about holding this seat," Pascoe told the Tribune.

It wasn't just Presidential candidates that were running for nominations in yesterday's vote. A handful of local Democrats and Republicans also ran for their party's spot on the November ballot as well.

One of the more contentious races in Tuesday's election is at the Cook County Board of Review, where incumbent Joe Berrios is facing a stiff challenge in trial lawyer Jay Paul Deratany. For many homeowners throughout Cook County, the Board of Review is their best chance at finding relief from both the monster property tax increases proposed by Mayor Daley and the County Board and the skyrocketing assessments of County Assessor Jim Houlihan.

In what what was quite possibly the most anti-climactic letter ever, Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office announced yesterday that it would stay out of the legal dispute between her dad, House Speaker Mike Madigan, and the Illinois Property Tax Appeals Board. In July, the Board, headed by Blagojevich ally Ron Messina, asked her office to rule on the possibility that the Speaker's second job as a property-tax appeals lawyer might disqualify him from taking a...

Here's what happened while a punk rock choir distracted us from Doomsday: Fall arts season preview season is here. If you didn’t pick up a Reader over the weekend, you can still bookmark their A & E preview online. The Trib’s writers chose their 10 most promising in theater, art, dance, music (rock and otherwise), comedy and architecture. The Bright One previews Broadway in Chicago and upcoming rock concerts and CDs (remember those?). New City...

Just as a cloud of gloom began to set in over the carless masses of Chicago, a ray of hope came as the State Senate has been called into session on Monday. While a spokesman for Senate President Emil Jones would only say that the session would include discussion of the "transit issue," Sen. John Cullerton, (D-Chicago) told Crain's that he thinks they are going to take up the same bill that Julie Hamos was...

Bad news hit the Chicagoist offices late yesterday afternoon as word came through that SB572 — the bill that would have raised sales taxes in Cook County and the five surrounding "collar" counties, as well as the real estate tax in Chicago, to help fund regional transit — failed to reach a "supermajority" of 71 votes in the Illinois House. Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), sponsor of the bill, halted voting and placed it on the...

One of Chicagoist’s things to do before we die is to gamble in a casino. A lofty goal, we know. Our one previous attempt at a Quad Cities riverboat ended in a DQ, as we weren’t old enough and our mother had left her driver’s license at the hotel. We know it’s way less glamorous than movies would have us think, but damn if we don’t want to feel the chips in our fingers and...

The Illinois State Budget Fight just got weirder. Governor Rod Blagojevich quietly filed suit in Sangamon County Friday against House Speaker Michael Madigan, attempting to force the Speaker to hold special sessions when he calls them. "It is imperative that (the governor's authority to call special sessions) is preserved and honored," Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for the governor wrote in an e-mail to the State Journal Register. "After lawmakers failed to follow the governor's special...

Boy, you know it must be bad when Mayor Daley is calling you out on your legislative tactics. In remarks to the press yesterday, Daley called Blagojevich's plans to cut $500 million from the recently passed budget and impose a universal health care plan of his choosing legally questionable and "dangerous." "In short, I'm cutting pork and special-interest spending and, in its place, I'm using the legal authority that I have to expand health care...

At the time of this writing, a budget had not cleared the Senate. This morning major news outlets are reporting that the Senate voted 52-5 to pass an operating budget late last night similar to what the House approved 99-9 earlier in the day. The Senate legislation will have to be voted on by the House before it can go to the governor's desk. The potential budget includes increases in spending for education, but not...

No surprises this weekend, as a special session in the legislature called by the governor to work out a one-month budget yielded only about a quarter of the Senate and half the House, falling short of a quorum. With legislators working privately on a budget, the only question is what Blagojevich is going to do when they don't show up at the sessions he is calling, and what he will do when they all gang...

Mister C, you win! Your guess of May 1 for the end of Frank Kruesi's career in our Frank Kruesi Dead Pool has won you a lovely Chicagoist T-shirt. Email Rachelle@chicago.com to claim your prize. For the rest of you — well, you can rejoice as well because the glory days of CTA President Frank Kruesi are over. Mayor Daley announced at this morning's press conference that Kruesi is retiring. Ron Huberman, the Mayor’s chief...

The big news yesterday was Rod Blagojevich's tax proposals. Coming as part of his combined State of the State and budget address to the General Assembly yesterday, Blago is proposing the largest tax hike in state history. Along with raising taxes (which he said he wouldn't do during his re-election campaign), he is also planning to increase spending by 9.5%, to a record $60.1 billion; $7 billion of that would come from the new gross...

Didn't someone yesterday just say it's a good thing Papa Daley never built the fabled Crosstown Expressway? Well, Mike Madigan must have been reading, and he disagrees. The Illinois House Speaker brought up the idea again yesterday to the surprise of many, including Governor Rod. Madigan's version of the Crosstown Expressway would be a toll road running from the Kennedy/Edens junction in the north, along Cicero Avenue to 75th Street, then cutting east to the...

A few news items about ComEd and its parent company Exelon managed to poke their heads through the noise of Super Bowl Hype Week I. No, they're not freezing rates again (not until something else freezes over), but here's what everyone's favorite utility behemoth was up to this week: Exelon reported about half a billion in profits for the last quarter, netting $592 million. That's a huge improvement over last year, when they reported a...

It seems that another battle is brewing with Rod Blagojevich. In a last-minute press release Friday evening, G-Rod announced he was suspending a program designed to stop predatory lending in the Chicago area, claiming that it hurt development in those areas. The five-month-old Illinois Predatory Lending Database Pilot Program set up rules for people that wanted to buy a home in 10 ZIP codes on Chicago's west and southwest sides. These rules required residents who...

Remember back in September when we warned you about the impending rate increase from ComEd, and everyone talked about TV shows instead? That was awesome. But you might want to think about switching off the telly every now and then; ComEd's 24 percent rate hike goes into effect this week, meaning that the "Ugly Betty" marathon you watched this weekend just cost you approximately $485.

The fallout from Rep. Mark Foley's resignation from Congress over revelations that he loves the young pageboys has widened to include a number of Illinois politicians. Dick Durbin has been around to wring his hands, although we're sure he'll apologize for it later, and Springfield Rep. John Shimkus, chairman of the House Page Board, is coming off looking rather clueless. But the big local name making the headlines is House Speaker Dennis Hastert, because one...

Yesterday Governor Blagojevich decided that keno will not have a role in funding state construction projects. So if your gambling itch can’t be adequately scratched with the lottery and riverboat casinos, you might want to head up to Michigan.

Chicagoist loves the comfort of representative democracy, knowing that our elected officials are taking care of the important things for us, things that require the leadership and insight of our best and brightest like making sure we call Christmas trees the right name. That's right, House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) is on the case, sending a letter to the Architect of the Capitol, asking that he please call the decorated conifer on Capitol Hill a "Christmas tree" instead of "Holiday tree."

Governor Rod Blagojevich has tried to characterize his first administration with three pledges: No new taxes, more money for schools, and no more "business as usual." The Mell-Blago family feud has made his third pledge hard to believe, but last night's budget deal with Democratic Senate President Emil Jones and Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan will deliver the first two pledges -- as well as avoid the CTA's Five Faces of Death, and probably close the spring legislative session by the end of the month. All significant accomplishments, considering how much wrangling Springfield has endured this year.

Earlier this week, Chicagoist reported Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich "roaring" with a new proposed campaign finance and ethics reform. Guess we got a bit ahead of ourselves -- since the proposal has turned out to be little more than a whimper. Ignore for a moment the expected Republican invective against the proposal, but Blago's own State Representative, John Fritchey (D-Chicago), responded to the proposal by, "pick[ing] up Blagojevich's press release, crumpled it and handed it...

Springfielders are buzzing about a report released this afternoon by State Auditor General William Holland. The report accuses a powerful state agency of illegally shifting funds between accounts, failure to track contract expenses, and inability to document $137 million of claimed procurement savings. The report stopped short of suggesting criminal activity, but the report was referred to Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who's office is reviewing it "very closely." The agency accused of wrongdoing, the...

Illinois state politics is a continuing marvel. Three powerful positions, three Democrats, no agreement, and the budget annually amplifies those differences. The Three Tops, (in order of appearance, above) House Speaker Mike Madigan, Governor Rod Blagojevich, and Senate President Emil Jones. Last year Madigan staked out the no taxes territory and hammered the governor with calls for paring down state spending. Meanwhile, Jones repeatedly called for increased education spending and the need for education...

While Senate President Emil (D-Chicago) said yesterday that a gambling expansion bill is very much alive, both Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) and a confidante of Mayor Daley said they don't expect any sort of gambling deal to come out of this Fall's veto session. As Chicagoist predicted yesterday, it looks like you won't roll any dice in Chicago until at least spring. The State House and Senate adjourn next Thursday.

If you like gambling, and you live in Chicago or the south suburbs, get pumped, because odds are some action is coming your way. Or at least, that's what it looks like.

With the Illinois General Assembly's veto session beginning Monday, quite a bit of important legislation could be passed. Leaders of the State Senate and House met with Gov. Blago Thursday to discuss the agenda. Legislators will discuss increasing the number of armed security guards at the capitol (in light of the September shooting of security guard William Wozniak), the CTA bail-out, more casinos in Illinois (as one possible source for the CTA bail-out) and one...

Joseph W. Lullo, an Chicago police officer in the Marquette district, was arrested Saturday after some sort of brawl at the White Sox/Tigers game. Lullo was seated in House Speaker Michael Madigan's "prime seats" because he is, according to the Sun-Times, a "behind the scenes" political player. Lullo is a 13th Ward precinct captain for Madigan and has contributed $3,400 to Citizens for Lisa Madigan since 1998, which, even though the article makes it sound kind of serious, doesn't seem like that much money. Chicagoist spends $565 a year on Diet Coke.

After months of whispers that he was planning to do so, Southwest Side Congressman William Lipinski announced today that he will resign his ballot position for reelection, and then retire from Congress at the end of his term. His replacement? None other than his son, and University of Tennessee political science professor, Daniel Lipinski. Rep. Lipinski has pulled off an incredible bit of jujitsu. By timing his announcement for today, it is too late for...