There might be no more politically powerful union in Illinois than the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Want proof? Well, AFSCME brought thousands of its members to Springfield last week for its annual "lobby day," and both state legislative chambers used the opportunity to suck up a whole lot more than they ever would for any other labor organization.
The feds set off a political atomic bomb the other day with the indictment of Illinois Governor George Ryan's campaign committee and his two former campaign managers, Scott Fawell and Rich Juliano. The big question on many minds is whether the entire state Republican Party will be damaged by the resulting radioactivity.
You gotta wonder about the sanity of the folks who run the Libertarian Party. Illinois Libertarians have the greatest opportunity in years to build their party. When Republican-leaning citizens become disenchanted, they often vote Libertarian.
Rod Blagojevich, the new Democratic nominee for Illinois governor, was attacked several times in the spring primary campaign's final days, and most of the hits can be traced back to the last Illinois AFL-CIO president's race.

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