Results tagged “mattmurphy”

The Sun-Times reports that U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis is forming an exploratory committee to consider a run for Cook County Board president early next year. The field is already crowded with at least six other officials showing interest. The Chicago Reader has a roundup of the potentials, which includes, Ald. Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, Cook County Assessor Jim Houlihan, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, and of course Todd Stroger. Currently there is no clear candidate for the Republican primary.

State Senator Matt Murphy, a Republican from Palatine, has officially entered what is going to be a wild 2010 governor's race. Talking to the Tribune, Murphy said, "I'm very serious. I look at it as I really feel that among those in this, I give it the best chance for us to win. It felt like everything kind of came together right in a strange sort of way. The feedback has been good enough. I'm ready to go forward. I'm in." Fellow GOP Sen. Bill Brady (Bloomington) has announced his intention to run already and Sen. Kirk Dillard (Hinsdale) is also considering a run. [Tribune]

In the state where we tax the shit out of everything, there's a new gas tax proposal just waiting to raise our ire. State Senate President John Cullerton and Speaker of the House Mike Madigan are co-sponsoring a bill that would raise the tax on a gallon of gas to 27 cents a gallon; motorists currently pay 19 cents a gallon. The reason? To help fund "Grow Illinois", which would pay for debt services and capital improvements the wake of the state's budget shortfall. Another co-sponsor, State Rep. Luis Arroyo, (D-Chicago) said, "No tax for the taxpayers of Illinois is easy. We need infrastructure and we need jobs. Everybody's crying for jobs. There's a lot of people getting laid off. We have to do a capital bill." That raises taxes on people who can't afford to travel to their jobs as it is?