Posts by Adrian G. Uribarri

There’s no way around it: The economy was nasty last year.

It was lousy for job seekers. It was wretched for businesses. And according to political fundraisers, it was a downright drag on donors.

Or was it? Read more...

Michael Demetrio says that when his wife ran for office, there was one place, and only one place, she turned for money: their own bank.

“We have a fairly firm philosophy,” Demetrio says. “We do not take funds from anyplace else besides us.”

The Chicago attorney pitched in about $125,000 for his wife’s judicial campaign last year. Mary Katherine Rochford won one of three vacancies in the 1st District of the Illinois Appellate Court — taking the concept of judicial independence to a financial extreme. Read more...

The Current's May print edition is now available at bars, restaurants and other locations around Chicago. Here's a story from the paper. More to come on Monday. 

Mark Kirk entered the U.S. Senate race as a golden child of Illinois’ Republican Party, winning handily in his GOP primary for Barack Obama’s old seat.

It was the latest victory in his charmed political career. Since 2001, he’s held the 10th Congressional District seat, maintaining favor with moderates among his wealthy, socially liberal North Shore constituency. Read more...

Scott Lee Cohen

Update | 12:23 p.m. Gov. Pat Quinn's campaign has responded to Scott Lee Cohen's announcement in an e-mail to the Current. Campaign spokeswoman Mica Matsoff:

Scott Lee Cohen withdrew his candidacy for lieutenant governor in February amid allegations of steroid use, domestic battery, and failure to pay child support. Today, he painted his entry into the governor’s race as a principled decision to spur economic growth in Illinois. Governor Quinn believes anything that focuses more attention on job creation is a good thing.

But while both Scott Lee Cohen and Bill Brady have talked a lot about creating jobs, neither has a proven track record of accomplishments in this area. By contrast, Governor Quinn has lead the fight to implement a range of measures to boost hiring—from a capital bill that would create 439,000 jobs over the next six years to a tax credit for small businesses. By working with business leaders, he has taken concrete steps to get residents back to work and secure a more prosperous future for Illinois. And unlike Cohen and Brady, Governor Quinn understands that promoting women’s rights and equal pay for equal work are crucial to the well-being of Illinois working families. Read more...

Update: Bill Brady campaign spokesman John Hoffman says "the Brady businesses have no financial interest connected with Wal-Mart."

Original post: Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady this morning called on Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn to support a proposed Wal-Mart in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago, calling the area a "food desert" that desperately needs new jobs.

"Whose side is the governor on?" Brady asked in a statement. "Instead of trying to raise our taxes, he should be standing up for raised opportunity. ... One of the most effective anti-violence programs is jobs." Read more...

Alexi Giannoulias got lemons, and he's trying to make lemonade.

Last week, the Giannoulias family's Broadway Bank failed. Federal regulators seized the community bank after it couldn't raise the $85 million it needed to stay out of government hands.

It was a huge and expected blow to Giannoulias' U.S. Senate campaign. His experience at the bank as a senior loan officer was a major asset to his successful 2006 state treasurer campaign — and now it's a liability. Read more...

An independent government watchdog today criticized Gov. Pat Quinn's budget for fiscal year 2011 "because it is unbalanced and does too little to address the state’s fiscal crisis."

"Unfortunately, the Governor’s recommended budget falls short of the goal that must be a top priority for all state leaders: to stabilize the state’s finances,” said Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, in a statement. “Borrowing five to six billion dollars for operating expenses neither balances the budget nor helps ensure next year’s budget crisis will be any better."

Authors of the Civic Fed report, released today, acknowledged Quinn's effort to reduce spending by signing a pension-reform bill earlier this year. Read more...

It's over.

Broadway Bank, for 30 years the Giannoulias family's business, has closed. The Chicago Tribune reports that federal regulators entered the Uptown building just a few minutes ago.

The shutdown was expected after the bank failed to come up with the $85 million it needed to stay out of government hands, and it confronts Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias as his campaign has struggled to win attention from the White House and maintain fundraising pace with Republican Mark Kirk. Read more...

Tax season's over, and it's almost spring in Illinois. But the politics here ain't all roses.

As Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady flashes his tax return to reporters, Democratic former governor Rod Blagojevich calls on the president to testify at his trial. Meanwhile, it seems Dick Durbin left the White House empty handed after trying to help his friend, Alexi Giannoulias.

Here's a summary of those developments and other recent Illinois political news: Read more...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady said tax returns he will release today show that his family's real-estate business is suffering, along with many others in the state.

They will illustrate, he argues, how the "Blagojevich-Quinn administration" has hurt economic development across Illinois.

But reporters in Illinois will have only three hours to review the documents — and only if they're at his Springfield campaign office. That's the only way Brady has said he will make them available. Read more...