02 Oct 2017

Can Rauner's Statements Be Taken as Truths?

By Rich Miller

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.

24 Sep 2017

Senator Brady Embarks on a Magical Mystery Tour

By Rich Miller

Brady has an idea in mind. But one person who was briefed last week said it wasn’t so much a plan as “A magical mystery tour looking for someone to love it.”

17 Sep 2017

Currie and Madigan: A Tale of Two Phone Calls

By Rich Miller

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.

10 Sep 2017

Illinois on a Path to Equitable School Funding

By Rich Miller

Lost in much of the hoopla over the process of passing school-funding reform through the Illinois General Assembly is the fact that this is a pretty darned good and far-reaching bill.

04 Sep 2017

The Long, Winding Road Toward Public-School Funding

By Rich Miller

It’s been clear for decades that the way Illinois funds its public schools has been wrong-headed. But finding a solution has eluded everyone who has tried. Until now.

27 Aug 2017

Job Numbers Not Looking Better on Rauner's Watch

By Rich Miller

Using non-farm jobs data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, over 120,000 net jobs have been added in Illinois since February of 2015, the first full month of Rauner's term in office.

But most of those jobs were gained in 2015, when 83,400 jobs were added

23 Aug 2017

Can the Governor Bring Himself to Cut a Deal?

By Rich Miller

Governor Bruce Rauner has said for the past several days that he’s open to just about any sort of compromise in order to get school funding reform signed into law.

13 Aug 2017

Chicago Public Schools Funding Faces a Likely Hit

By Rich Miller

Chicago has vast property wealth and the largest population by far in Illinois. But it also has a large amount of that property wealth locked up in Tax Increment Financing districts.

06 Aug 2017

Governor’s Proposed Changes to Education-Funding Bill Look Like an Effort to Kill It

By Rich Miller

The education-funding-reform bill that passed the House and Senate in May and was finally sent to Governor Bruce Rauner on July 31 was the product of four years of research, endless listening tours, and lots of hard bargaining.

But when Rauner issued his amendatory veto of Senate Bill 1 last week, he introduced a bunch of new ideas that had never been on the table, including during endless discussions among members of his own education-funding-reform commission.

30 Jul 2017

Governor Has a Sound Political Strategy but No Solution on Education

By Rich Miller

The battle plan to kill the Democrats’ education-funding-reform bill (Senate Bill 1) that was plotted before Governor Bruce Rauner’s infamous staff purge in early July – and which still appears to be mostly operative – actually anticipated low special-session turnout, because there likely wouldn’t be much of anything to vote on. Rauner’s folks figured that the Democrats would wait a while before lifting the parliamentary brick off the education-funding-reform bill – the better to foment a crisis atmosphere as the clock ticks down to schools reopening after summer break.

So legislators not showing up for session will likely only amplify the governor’s contention that the majority party isn’t interested in preventing a crisis and funding schools.

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