Illinois is still deep in the hole fiscally despite some fiscal growth over the past three quarters. more ›

Saving state taxpayers $12 million a year and eliminating redundancies in the Comptroller's and Treasurer's offices apparently isn't enough for Michael Madigan to support an amendment to the Illinois Constitution merging the two offices. more ›

Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka sets up a pet adoption program that she hopes will united sheltered pets with families and, by extension, reduce animal control costs across Illinois. more ›

Former state treasurer Judy Baar Topinka is back in the political spotlight. Topinka is expected to announce her candidacy today for state comptroller, a position vacated by Dan Hynes as he gets knee-deep in his run against Pat Quinn for Governor. We last heard from Topinka in 2006 when she challenged the then-incumbent governor, Rod Blagojevich, in that office's race. Other candidates include William J. Kelly, Raja Krishnamoorthi, and potentially state Rep. David Miller. more ›

The ongoing corruption case against Blagojevich, coupled with a projected $9 billion deficit in a Democrat-controlled state, is giving some officials within the Republican party hope that it can rise to its former glory. It's only been three years since George Ryan - the Republican governor who preceded Blago - was convicted on corruption charges himself, but Republicans say following the Democrat governor's ousting and his embattled appointment of another Democrat to the Senate, the party can rightfully hail itself as a promoter of clean government. more ›

• Police continue to investigate the death of a three-month old baby who was found in a crowded, dirty apartment on the Northwest Side.
• Yesterday was a dark day for businesses nationwide with tens of thousands of jobs cut. Among them, 20,000 by Illinois-based Caterpillar.
• The ACLU has filed suit against the Illinois Department of Vital Records for refusing to issue new birth certificates to transgenders who have their sex change operation performed overseas.

She's the woman who could have been Governor. But in 2006, Judy Baar Topinka, longtime Illinois politician and State Treasurer under Jim Edgar and the not-convicted-yet George Ryan, was defeated in the Gubernatorial race by incumbent Rod Blagojevich. And just look where that's gotten us. While most of our day-to-day political thoughts right now are focused on the presidential election, we're also in the beginning of the race for Illinois Governor in 2010. So what does Topinka think about how the state is being run? No surprise here - she isn't much of a fan of Blago - but what about beyond that? Who's going to step up for the Republican party in two years? Who's going to try to replace G-Rod in the Democratic party? And is there any shot at getting him removed before 2010? All these answers after the jump. more ›

Tony Peraica, Cook County commissioner and state’s attorney candidate, is having the worst week ever. As if being a homophobe right-winger in Cook County wasn’t bad enough, now the rest of the local GOP combine has turned against him. Joe Birkett, Judy Baar Topinka’s running mate for lieutenant governor, is backing Mary McMahon, an assistant state’s attorney in Democrat Dick Devine’s office, as the GOP candidate for State’s Attorney. This after he spoke at a... more ›

Really, what was Big Red thinking when she decided to sell pictures of her dog and her honorary black belt in karate in a garage sale? There is low, and then there is low. Defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka held an estate sale over the weekend to rid herself of "tchotchkes" collected in her 26 years of public service. Included in her collection of tchotchkes are a 5-foot stuffed penguin, a singing plastic... more ›

While we were busy obsessing over Ward politics and aldermanic races, all kinds of newsworthy events happened in the spectator sport of local Chicago politics. Lets take a look back at the week so far: Todd Stroger is asking Cook County's elected officials for budget cuts, in an attempt to trim the deficit. Facing a nearly $500 million shortfall, Stroger is asking Sheriff Tom Dart, State's Attorney Dick Devine, and Clerk of the Court Dorothy... more ›

The Orange and Green line trains are "back to normal" this morning. With yet another crisis is behind them, the CTA needs to start demonstrating that it’s acting in the best interest of its riders. more ›

Sure, this city's sports scene is all Bears, all the time right now, but Chicagoist can find a way to make you care about the World Series. As Tommy Lasorda has been telling that poor Cubs fan up in the tree "since his team was eliminated from the postseason" in those playoff promos (they should have done some fact-checking on that one though--what, he's been up there since May?), it doesn't matter who's in the... more ›

Wow. That's all Chicagoist can say about yesterday's indictment of Tony Rezko. We're glad to see that Fitzgerald finally grew some fucking balls and indicted someone that's actually up to no good. When the news hit, we were busy at our day jobs (Chicagoist has to eat too, ya know), but when we got home, let us tell you, we were all over it. Blagojevich (wisely) took some quick action to try to get in... more ›

You remember that poll in the Sun-Times yesterday? Yeah, that one. Well the race for Cook County Board President got a little, well, hot yesterday. In a noon debate at Chicago's Union League Club, the once and future king of Cook County took shots at Peraica, trying to paint him as both a right-winger and a crook associated with disgraced (and convicted) former Cicero town president Betty Loren-Maltese; Peraica accused Stroger of being absent for... more ›

Mike Madigan's daughter and Attorney General Lisa Madigan is accusing Gov. Blagojevich of impeding a federal investigation into questionable hiring. Late last week AFSCME Council 31 publicly alleged that the Governor was intimidating state employees by running a parallel investigation to the hiring probe being conducted by Patrick Fitzgerald. Already sniffing around about favors lists and sketchy connections to vendors leasing Tollway space, Fitzgerald's office has said that there is credible evidence of "endemic hiring... more ›

After quibbling about who would wear what color suit, how big the podiums had to be, and when, where, and how they would exclude the Green Party candidate, Judy Baar Topinka and Rod Blagojevich finally had their first debate. And what an event it was, with each accusing the other of lying about everything from state contracts and patronage to property taxes and job growth. While Topinka said that her education plan wouldn’t expand gambling... more ›

Coming soon to a Judy Baar Topinka campaign commercial, yesterday the state's Auditor General reported that Gov. Blagojevich's plan to import prescription drugs from Canada broke federal law and may be unsafe. What's worse, fewer than 5,000 people even used the program in its first year and a half. more ›

When Chicagoist was in college, our friends who had to stay for a fifth year called it "Taking the Victory Lap." They'd spend a year taking six hours a semester, hitting on underclassmen at the bars, sleeping most of the day, and drinking and smoking most of the night. Come to think of it, that's kind of how they got to that fifth year in the first place. It's a time-honored tradition for career students afraid or unwilling to leave the comfy, hedonistic nest of college and enter the real world. Faced with the scary costs of a college education these days, Mayor Daley is suggesting that high school students be given a chance to take their own fifth-year victory lap. more ›

We held off writing anything about gay marriage opponents trying to get a referendum to change the Illinois Constitution to define marriage as a relationship between a woman and a man on the November ballot because we didn’t want to give the haters at Protect Marriage Illinois any attention, and we hoped they would fail in their quest to collect the needed signatures. The good news is that organizers of the referendum fell short in... more ›

Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka lashed out at Governor Blagojevich yesterday for filing an extension for his income taxes. Topinka thinks Blago is trying to hide where his income comes from, but all we can say is YAWN! If Blago tries to get out of declaring some income, then by all means, please let us know, but being warned that he is playing by the rules in filing the extension is downright boring. Why... more ›

The latest Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll has Governor Rod Blagojevitch (which is apparently Zogby for Blagojevich) ahead of Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka, 43% to 37%, despite having a low approval rating. Of course, other recent polls by Rasmussen Reports and Glengariff Group show Topinka ahead by a slight margin, so take it for what it's worth. To Carol Marin, it's not worth much. Today she reminds us that November is still a long way away. more ›

So far this week Chicagoist had an argument with our siblings over baseball, endured a date with a guy who isn't even registered to vote, forgot to set our alarm clock, thus making us late for a big meeting at work, fell down some stairs, and accidentally threw our favorite cashmere sweater into the dryer. And it's only Wednesday! Sigh. Even with all of that, our week is still not going as poorly as Governor... more ›

Now that the primaries are over, we can all take a deep breath before we look ahead to the November election. However, there are still plenty of questions that need answering. Will Stroger be on the November ballot? We all know that he is currently recovering from a stroke, but what we don’t know is just how serious his condition is, and if he will recover well enough to stay on the ballot or serve... more ›

Jennifer Aniston is moving to Chicago, which drops the Cusacks even further down the hip Chicago celebs list. (Who’s even on the list these days? Does Jeremy Piven even rate still? Jeff Garlin has a permanent spot, though.) But it’s true. She’s coming to the Midwest to shack up with hometown fave Vince Vaughn, in a move that, given the feelings of certain elements here at Chicagoist, could lead to a drunken confrontation some night... more ›

The primary election results are in, and here are some of the candidates you will see on the ballot in the November election: Governor-Democrat: Rod Blagojevich (70.1%) This was no surprise since Eisendrath never seemed to get his campaign off the ground. We know a lot of people who voted Eisendrath as part of showing their disapproval towards Blago. Governor-Republican: Judy Baar Topinka (38.0%) Topinka held off a late surge from Oberweis, who early on... more ›

Jim Oberweis never ceases to amaze us. The man who isn't a politician, but plays one during election season, is upset that Bill Brady and Ron Gidwitz will not drop out of the Republican race for governor because he believes they are taking away the votes he needs to beat frontrunner Judy Baar Topinka. Oberweis' solution? The three men should all draw straws to see which one can stay in the race. Seriously. Oberweis' campaign... more ›

After taking part in a debate Wednesday night, Judy Baar Topinka decided to not participate in any more debates or roundtables with her fellow Republican gubernatorial opponents because, she says, doing so would allow them to “bash her forever.” Jim Oberweis is certainly going after Topinka. Oberweis has rolled out Topinka’s former chief of staff and lovah, Martin Kovarik, to say the treasurer had state employees do campaign work on the taxpayers’ dime and ordered... more ›

Yesterday Governor Blagojevich visited the Sun-Times editorial board and tried to convince them to endorse his reelection bid. Blago, who seemed "larger than life" to Carol Marin, didn’t seem too worried about his primary challenge from Edwin Eisendrath and instead focused on Republican frontrunner Judy Baar Topinka and called her a shill for the National Rifle Association. more ›

Ah, February. You went by so fast, yet you left us with so much political discord. As usual, County Board President John Stroger and Commissioner Forrest Claypool were all up in each other’s business. Maybe we could solve the county’s financial woes by having these two battle it out in a pay-per-view cage match. For a day or so it looked like Senators John McCain and Barack Obama might engage in a full out war... more ›