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...
Chicago alderman criticized the Obama administration today for dragging its feet on immigration reform.
Alderman Danny Solis (25th) introduced a resolution at today's City Council meeting solidifying the council's commitment to immigration reform, as Solis and others prepare to go to Washington for an immigration-rights march on March 21.
The City Council in the past has supported a moratorium on raids and deportations that lead to the separation of families. Read more...
Our January print edition featured an article about a bloc of candidates championing reform, transparency, term limits and pretty much everything else voters might hope for in Cook County government.
They included candidates for County Board, the MWRD and assessor. While voters may have waved goodbye to Todd Stroger, they weren’t quite ready to welcome in this crop of lesser-known contenders.
Not one of the upstarts we profiled in January came out victorious, despite their unified push and that the candidates, who published their bloc on their Web site, www.changecookcounty.com, garnered endorsements from the area’s major media outlets. Read more...
It's been a rough couple of years in the political ring for Ted Matlak.
The former alderman was voted out of office by a slim margin in favor of Scott Waguespack in 2008. And yesterday, state Rep. John Fritchey easily defeated him for the 12th District County Board seat being vacated by Commissioner Forrest Claypool.
Fritchey, who will resign his General Assembly seat, ran as a reformer, casting himself against Matlak, whose Machine ties are well-chronicled and who drew criticism as an alderman for pushing development deals that changed the character of neighborhoods like Bucktown and Wicker Park. Read more...
On a bright and brutally cold afternoon earlier this month, Todd Connor and Xavier Nogueras canvassed the Northwest Side of Chicago, selling their candidacies for commissioners of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District and Cook County Board, respectively.
They knocked on doors, handed out literature and even helped a woman whose car was stuck in a frozen puddle. Along the way, they told voters that change was in the chilly air. Read more...
