In a rare policy address at Elmhurst College, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan talked about the seven governors he has served with over the past four decades. Madigan barely mentioned Gov. Pat Quinn, saying only that his relatioship with the current governor is “better than it was.” Madigan was effusive in his praise for former Republican Gov. George Ryan, calling him “very flexible, very interested in just identifying problems and fashioning solutions.”
Former Gov. George Ryan's third appeal for an early release from federal prison was denied Wednesday by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ryan is serving in his third year of a 6 1/2 year sentence on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, tax fraud and making false statements to the FBI. Ryan's wife, Lura Lynn died last week.
Scott Cisek, the newly-minted political director of the Cook County Democratic Party, and Tom Bowen, County Commissioner Forrest Claypool's campaign manager, got into it on Facebook yesterday, in what appears to be the philosophical ouster of Claypool from the party.
On his Facebook page, Cisek wrote, "Cook County Democrats, remember what Benjamin Franklin said, 'We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.'" Read more...
The issue may be justice, but the consequences could be political.
Former Gov. George Ryan's plea for clemency to Barack Obama puts the president, who worked with Ryan during his years in the Illinois Senate, in an awkward position.
On one hand, the president is looking at a former governor who bilked taxpayers out of millions of dollars and sold licenses to unqualified truck drivers. On the other, Ryan's an old man with a dying wife, spending her last days alone as he waits behind bars. Read more...
As Illinois candidates try to fill Barack Obama's old U.S. Senate seat, their race to the upper chamber promises to be one of the most highly funded in the state, and likely the nation.
But as campaign finance dominates the political discussion in Illinois today, you'll notice some big names are missing from the latest chatter.
Candidates for U.S. Senate aren't part of the Illinois campaign reporting system. They file their finance reports with the Federal Election Commission on a separate timetable. Read more...
