Capital Facts

Welch believes Illinios Democrats can build their majority

Published by admin on Sat, 08/17/2024 - 2:15pm

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch has said he thinks he can flip somewhere between four and six Republican-held House districts to Democratic control, upping his super-majority to between 82 and 84 seats, from his current 78.
Which Republican districts are flippable? I talked with a high-level source close to Welch’s caucus who pointed to the following races.

Ill-informed posts backfires on state senator

Published by admin on Sun, 08/04/2024 - 3:51pm

A Facebook post last week by state Sen. Willie Preston (D-Chicago created a stir, caused one of his fellow Democratic Senators to bow out of a planned joint fundraiser and, ultimately, the entire fundraiser wascanceled.
It's all a good illustration of the ill-informed, rapid-fire insanity of our social media-fueled era.
Sen. Preston posted an incendiary story by a notorious British tabloid about Olympics boxer Imane Khelif of Algeria. “Boxer 'deemed male' leaves Italian female fighter in tears at Olympics,” was the Daily Mail headline.

Pritzker: proposed firearms removal law would be difficult to enforce

Published by admin on Fri, 07/26/2024 - 4:44pm

“I support Karina’s Law,” Gov. JB Pritzker emphatically told me.
It’s the strongest statement he’s made about the bill which stalled in the Senate last spring. The proposal would mandate that police remove firearms from a person who has been served with a domestic violence order of protection. But there still appear to be some Pritzker caveats.

Pritzker refutes $1.1 billion more for CPS

Published by admin on Sun, 07/21/2024 - 11:23am

An oft-repeated $1.1 billion demand from Chicago’s mayor would actually wind up costing state taxpayers $5.5 billion. And Gov. JB Pritzker is turning a big thumbs down.
Chicago Public Schools made the huge mistake of putting a ton of temporary federal pandemic aid into its permanent spending base for years and that money is just about gone. It also recently over-estimated some state tax revenues.

Chicago’s transit system is in tatters

Published by admin on Sat, 07/13/2024 - 1:56pm

A little-noticed bill passed both the Illinois House and Senate that will generate $300 to $400 million a year for local governments, including $95-127 million for the Regional Transportation Authority.
The bill (SB3362) will help capture sales tax revenue from more out of state retailers and in-state retailers who ship to Illinoisans in out of state locations.

Times have changed in the Illinois Senate

Published by admin on Sun, 06/30/2024 - 11:44am

During the last couple weeks of the spring state legislative session, Senate President Don Harmon got whacked twice by allies, including Gov. JB Pritzker, but still managed to keep his cool.
On May 14th, the pro-choice powerhouse group Personal PAC issued a blistering press release blasting the Senate super-majority for an “unacceptable decision” to strip abortion services from the governor’s birth equity bill, which banned co-pays and other added insurance costs for most prenatal and postnatal care.

Will outsiders do a better job as Illinois Republican leaders?

Published by admin on Sun, 06/23/2024 - 12:18pm

As you’ve probably heard by now, Illinois Republican Party Chair DonTracy announced his resignation last week, apparently effective the day after the Republican National Convention concludes on July 18.
The announcement came after far-right activists forced out the state party’s vice chair, Mark Shaw, and the resignation of the party’s finance chair, Vince Kolber. Both Shaw and Kolber had made unsuccessful bids for the Republican National Committeeman post days earlier, but were rejected by state convention attendees.

How can Metra be trusted after warehouse boondoggle

Published by admin on Sun, 06/16/2024 - 3:56pm

˙“What was supposed to be a simple storage warehouse for the Metra transit agency has now buried the nation's fourth-busiest commuter rail system in a sinking money pit, the ABC7 I-Team has learned.”
The Chicago broadcast station’s scoop last week is an almost perfect encapsulation of why northeastern Illinois’ mass transit fiefdoms need to be busted and reformed.

Judge rules 14 Republicans can be on the ballot

Published by admin on Sun, 06/09/2024 - 1:30pm

A state law essentially designed to prevent Republicans from appointing legislative candidates to the ballot after the March primary was ruled unconstitutional by a Sangamon County judge last week, but her ruling only applied to the 14 Republican plaintiffs in the case who are running for the Illinois House and Senate.
The law prohibited local party slating of legislative candidates when no candidate had run in the primary. But, as Circuit Judge Gail Noll noted, the bill was passed and signed into law after the 75-day post-primary candidate slating process had already begun.

It took three votes for spending bill to pass

Published by admin on Sat, 06/01/2024 - 10:32am

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch gave added meaning to the phrase “winning ugly” during last Wednesday’s early morning hours.
I’ve never seen anything like it, so let’s take a look.
House members were told to be in their seats by noon on Tuesday after the Senate had easily passed the entire budget package on Sunday. But the House session was delayed for endless hours as rumors swirled about a “mini revolt” against the budget deal struck by Gov. JB Pritzker, Senate President Don Harmon and Speaker Welch.