News Coverage: Luis Gutierrez

Their absentee records are among worst in U.S. House— U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Luis Gutierrez of Chicago have racked up so many absences from the House floor that their voting records are among the worst in Congress.

Hotel workers, labor officials and supporters will rally this afternoon to mark the seventh anniversary of the strike at the Congress Hotel. 

Today's events will focus heavily on immigration issues, and will feature U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez and other speakers. 

Last year Gov. Pat Quinn and Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias spoke at the rally. They are not scheduled to appear this year.  Read more...

It's pretty clear that President Barack Obama's focus on health care has left other legislative priorities lower on the policy totem pole.

Now, Obama has made a final push for health care reform, and, albeit with plenty of controversy, it seems likely that Democrats will pass their bill. So powerful unions appear to be shifting their resources from health care to another topic: immigration.

While activists in many corners of the policy world feel neglected, some immigration activists feel so slighted that they're boarding buses from Chicago to Washington just to send a message. A send-off tomorrow could represent an official move from health care to other issues on labor's lobbying front. Read more...

Here's a roundup of recent political news:

• As Democrats battle scandal, there's one trouble spot President Barack Obama has stayed away from: his home state of Illinois.
• Running for Obama's old Senate seat, Rep. Mark Kirk is set on derailing the president's plans.
• He's from the same state and from the same party as they are, but the president still hasn't been able to convince some Illinois Democrats to back the final health care measure.
• Lawmakers and judges in Illinois might need to wait longer to retire and collect on their pensions.
• A bill crafted by Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin was supposed to equalize penalties for possession of crack cocaine versus cocaine in powder form. But he's fine with a "bipartisan" compromise: a penalty 18 times as large for those who carry crack than for the whiter, richer folks who carry powder.
• Illinois' experiment with one of the earliest primaries in the country has come to an end. The state will now hold primary elections in late March, rather than freezing early February.
• A federal judge refused to delay the June 3 corruption trial of former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
• U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, one of Obama's staunch Chicago supporters, says he'll vote against the president's health care bill. He says the bill leaves out immigrants, producing "a change for the worse."
• Faced with DNA evidence that Asian carp have moved into Lake Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court will reconsider whether to close two Chicago-area locks to the Great Lakes.
• Illinois House Rep. Ron Stephens as been charged with driving under the influence. The Greenville Republican is an assistant minority leader.

When pollster John Anzalone thinks about Illinois, he can reach for his Rolodex and call friends like David Axelrod and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.

But relationships aside, his Alabama-based consulting firm Anzalone Liszt Research has another card it can play.

“Winning races — that’s a pretty good marketing tool right there,” Anzalone says. Read more...