Terrence O’Brien may have raised more money in 2009 than Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, but she has a sizeable advantage in cash on hand, according the latest semi-annual campaign finance disclosure reports submitted to the state.
Preckwinkle raised $281,044 in 2009, and ended the year with $444,519 and change in the bank. The reports cover the time period of July 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009.
Her largest expenses are for staff, but the campaign spent $10,000 to conduct a poll that has yet to be released. Read more...
The state's largest union of public-sector workers declined to endorse a candidate for governor this year, expressing reservations about each of the leading Democratic candidates.
The abstention, by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, is the second such blow to the candidates — and especially Gov. Pat Quinn — in as many weeks, after the Illinois AFL-CIO, the federation of state labor organizations, also did not endorse a candidate in a vote of its delegation.
The restraint is notable because it indicates ambivalence about a sitting Democratic governor's record on labor issues. Despite past membership in two unions, Quinn has lagged in union endorsements versus primary challenger and Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes. Read more...
The Chicago Transit Authority is taking aim at its next major rehabilitation project, and it’s a big one: the North Side’s Red and Purple “L” lines.
But while plans to reconstruct the lines’ bridges, tracks, stations are taking shape, the money isn't — yet.
The 90-year-old lines are some of the most frequently-traveled tracks in the entire "L" system. The CTA is hoping to do a major overhaul similar to projects that rebuilt the vast majority of the infrastructure on the Brown, Pink and Green lines. Read more...
