29 Sep 2010

Ballot-Access Survey Responses

By Administrator

In conjunction with an article on ballot access in Illinois, the River Cities' Reader sent out an e-mail survey to third-party officials and candidates. Below are the unedited responses we received covering thee parties: Constitution, Green, and Libertarian.

Our survey included one overarching question: Is the Illinois ballot-access system fair and reasonable? If not, how would you like to see it changed?

We also included five more-specific questions:

1) Is the 25,000-signature threshold for new political parties a reasonable standard? If not, what number of signatures would you prefer?

2) Do you support a filing-fee alternative to petition signatures? If so, what amount would be reasonable?

3) In your experience, does the Illinois State Board of Elections handle petition challenges fairly and equitably? Please elaborate on any experiences good or bad.

4) What changes, if any, would you like to see made to the petition-challenge process?

5) Have the time and resources required to gather signatures and fight petition challenges hampered your party's ability to campaign, either this year or in the past? If so, in what ways?

26 Sep 2010

Trust History Over Polling in This Year's Races

By Rich Miller

If you talk to state legislative Democrats, they'll tell you that their latest round of polling is showing improvement in most of their races since the summer. The Republicans, however, believe they have history on their side.

The House Democrats say their candidates are sticking to a strict and intense precinct-walking program. That, plus the end of the Rod Blagojevich trial, allowed them to stabilize their campaigns. They see polls showing their candidates doing better than they were and believe they've turned the corner.

19 Sep 2010

Union Abandons Democrats in House Races

By Rich Miller

The union that represents thousands of state and local government employees, AFSCME, was one of the bigger Democratic campaign contributors in the final six months of the 2008 campaign. But this year the union will be sitting out almost all of the Illinois House Democrats' top races.

The union met in Springfield several days ago to formalize its endorsements. They announced backing for Governor Pat Quinn, Alexi Giannoulias for U.S. Senate, Judy Baar Topinka for comptroller, and Robin Kelly for treasurer. But their legislative endorsements - and their lack of endorsements - were the most interesting.

12 Sep 2010

What Daley's Retirement Means to November's Election

By Rich Miller

Chicago Mayor Richard M. DaleyChicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's stunning decision to step down at the end of this term has at least temporarily sucked almost all the oxygen out of Illinois politics and focused just about everyone's attention on an extremely rare open-seat contest.

There hasn't been an open seat race for mayor since 1947, when Ed Kelly stepped aside so the Machine could endorse reformer Martin Kennelly. Richard J. Daley defeated Kennelly in the 1955 primary, and the rest is history. This upcoming open-seat race is just about the rarest Illinois political event most of us have seen in our lifetimes.

29 Aug 2010

State's Disclosure Law Upheld, but a Loophole Remains

By Rich Miller

A Virginia-based group that wanted to play in Illinois politics but didn't want to disclose its donors has lost round one in what could be an extended court battle.

The Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF) filed a federal lawsuit earlier this summer claiming that the state's contribution-disclosure laws for not-for-profits and political committees should be tossed out.

22 Aug 2010

Quinn Against Brady Recalls Carter Against Reagan

By Rich Miller

Lots of people are having trouble getting their heads around the fact that Republican state Senator Bill Brady may well be our next governor. This is, after all, a Democratic state.

But it's way past time to consider Brady a very real probability. Governor Pat Quinn's poll numbers, along with the economy and the state budget, are in the dumper. Scott Lee Cohen will likely target African-American voters and badly damage Quinn's chances. The Green Party's candidate won't help, either. And almost $2 million spent on TV ads attacking Brady on abortion, health care, and the minimum wage haven't yet worked.

I've told you this before, but I think it's even clearer now: This campaign looks more and more every day like the 1980 presidential campaign between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. We have the decent, honest person who can't seem to run a government up against a conservative guy who all the liberals love to hate.

15 Aug 2010

Could Quinn Sink the Entire Democratic Party?

By Rich Miller

There is no doubt whatsoever that Republicans in this state have every reason to cheer, and Democrats have all the reasons in the world to grumble.

Republicans have a fired-up, angry base that can't wait to vote. The Democratic base is morose, embarrassed at its party's failures, and in no mood to even think about voting.

Numerous pollsters and prognosticators have pointed to the eerie similarities between the public's mood now and at the same point in the huge Republican year of 1994 -- the last time we had a Democratic president facing his first midterm election.

08 Aug 2010

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail

By Rich Miller

Rich MillerDemocrats throughout the country, and right here in Illinois, are pushing a two-pronged negative strategy to retain their hold on power in these uncertain times.

01 Aug 2010

Quinn's Negativity Backfires on Him

By Rich Miller

Governor Pat Quinn was in rare form last week as he attacked state Senator Bill Brady before his Republican opponent had a chance to get his own licks in.

Quinn was put in an extremely awkward position by his budget director, who indicated to an out-of-state reporter that the state's income-tax rate would be increased to 5 percent from its current 3 percent come January. Democrats were predictably stunned by the political stupidity of such a thing, and Republicans were predictably foaming at the mouth with outrage. The virulently anti-tax Brady quickly scheduled a press conference and we all knew what was coming: unadulterated vitriol.

25 Jul 2010

Quinn's Governing Comes a Little Too Close to Campaigning

By Rich Miller

I was looking through Governor Pat Quinn's campaign-finance reports the other day and saw that he went way out of his way to list even the tiniest in-kind contributions.

"In-kind donations" means that instead of giving cash, somebody contributed goods or services to a campaign.

Reading through the report, I saw the $8.28 spent by a retired Chicago woman for food at Treasure Island. The $17.67 that a Springfield homemaker paid for Mel-O-Cream doughnuts. The $5.56 shelled out by a DuQuoin High School teacher for food at Kroger.

So it's quite remarkable that the governor will not admit that he ought to reimburse taxpayers for at least part of the state plane flight he took to southern Illinois the other day. Quinn flew down from Chicago to tour a facility with Southern Illinois University honchos. He also took a group of parents who had lost sons or daughters in Iraq and Afghanistan to a minor-league baseball game.

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