Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 27,2012

Polls blind to state representatives’ shenanigans

I have two poll results to tell you about today. One is about an alleged criminal; the other is about a proven liar.Expelled state Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) is leading his only opponent by 38 poi

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 20,2012

Teachers union shows who’s boss

By Rich Miller

For several months, beginning in late 2010, teachers union lobbyists warned that teachers went out on strike a whole lot more back in the days when they were prohibited by law from striking than in th

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 13,2012

Obama’s ahead, but not like 2008

By Rich Miller

On the eve of President Barack Obama’s acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention last week, a statewide poll showed the native son was leading his Republican opponent by 17 percent

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, September 6,2012

Quinn’s “Framework for Gambling” takes center stage

By Rich Miller

Most people looked at last week’s veto by Gov. Pat Quinn of the big gaming expansion bill and saw nothing except defeat for the issue. But the governor appeared to deliberately leave some doors

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, August 30,2012

Is Preckwinkle preparing to run against Quinn?

By Rich Miller

“We’ve got to activate the taxpayers of Illinois,” Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters after his legislative special session failed to move any sort of pension reform forward, promising to

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, August 23,2012

The story behind the State Fair boos

By Rich Miller

If you were following the news last week, you already know that hundreds of AFSCME members packed the Illinois State Fair Director’s Lawn last Wednesday afternoon and booed pretty much everybody

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, August 16,2012

The campaign against Mike Madigan

By Rich Miller

The Illinois Republican Party has relentlessly bashed House Speaker Michael Madigan almost every day via press release during the past few months. Not many of those statements have been covered by the

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, August 9,2012

Quinn plays the politics of pensions

By Rich Miller

Gov. Pat Quinn’s office flatly denies it, but it’s hard to see how last week’s big announcement about calling a special session on pension reform wasn’t at least partially rela

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, August 2,2012

Statehouse Dems dominate the dollar race

By Rich Miller

The House and Senate Democratic leaders have once again dominated the quarterly fundraising race. The Democrats are currently sitting on almost three times the amount of cash as the Republicans.House

Politics - Rich Miller | Thursday, July 26,2012

When the feds can’t nail their suspect

By Rich Miller

The federal criminal complaint against the seven people arrested in Chicago last week for federal bribery conspiracy is 42 pages long. Former state Sen. Rickey Hendon is mentioned 21 times in those 42