The budget — if you can call it that — which passed the General Assembly last week has as much as a $5 billion hole in it, borrows over $7 billion from Wall Street and state ve]]> “Tea party fever” is to the Republican Party what the H1N1 Flu is to the general populace. It’s spreading fast and it’s potentially dangerous.Establishment Republican politicia]]> One of Gov. Pat Quinn’s favorite lines is “I speak truth to power.” He uses it almost all the time, and has for years. It appears to be a verbal tic. Quinn has grown so accustomed to saying it for so long that he can’t stop himself. He said it once while explaining how he would pitch his income tax hike plan to average voters.]]> As you probably know already, Moody’s slapped Illinois with its worst credit rating of any state in the nation earlier this month.But while Moody’s report was damaging, S&P’s rat]]> Editorial writers, crusading columnists and reformers say it all the time: Illinois is one of only a small handful of states which does not regulate campaign contributions. That’s tech]]> Decisions made by a governor in a faraway, but strikingly similar state might actually influence our election right here in Illinois.Just a week or so after Gov. Pat Quinn lays out his state budget bl]]> Springfield mayors hold a unique position in Illinois. As the mayor of the state’s capital city, they have access to more state leaders more often and more intimately than just about any other l]]> The Statehouse is buzzing yet again with talk of a new gaming expansion plan. This time, the players say, they have their acts together. Really.I’m always pretty skeptical of these big legislati]]> Jerry Clarke is not easily ruffled. Not only has he seen it all in his years running campaigns in Illinois, but he’s served several tours of duty in Iraq as a combat helicopter pilot. But I thou]]> A big question on a lot of Statehouse minds right now is: Why would Senate President John Cullerton all of a sudden decide to string out his members yet again on a dollar a pack cigarette tax hike whe]]> One of the main reasons the Democratic Party did so poorly across the nation last year and lost ground in Illinois was the defection of senior citizens to the Republican Party. On election day, 2006, ]]> While Rod Blagojevich’s jury found him guilty on 17 felony counts last week, jurors found him not guilty on one count and deadlocked on two others. Not much has been written about those other co]]>