I don’t think I’ve ever seen House Speaker Michael Madigan move faster to get in front of a legislative issue than he did when he vowed action to address the climate of sexual harassment at the Illinois Statehouse.

Last week, Governor Bruce Rauner's campaign fund transferred $4.45 million to the Illinois Republican Party to bankroll a new effort to focus voters' attention on House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Everyone knew from the beginning of the two-year budget impasse that the House Republicans were the key to victory for both sides. As long as Rauner could hold them completely together, he could continue the impasse fight with the Democrats. By April, however, mutinous rumblings were growing in that caucus and one way Rauner could placate them was to swear he would veto HB40 if it ever reached his desk.

Back in 1979, when Currie started her first term, Chicago's House delegation was packed with very conservative white men. But now, "I don't feel as if I'm leaving a void" by retiring, the liberal legislator from Chicago’s liberal Hyde Park neighborhood told me Thursday night. The city's delegation these days is filled with "fresh, bright, able, progressive people," Currie said.