Pritzker

The good news in Pritzker’s proposed budget

Published by admin on Sat, 02/18/2023 - 11:05am

After taking a pandemic-induced hiatus from proposing large, permanent base spending increases and instead using most revenue increases for one-time expenditures, Gov. JB Pritzker’s recently proposed Fiscal Year 2024 state budget appears to increase base operational spending by at least $2.75 billion, or 7.9 percent.
Annual pension payments will also rise by a relatively modest $201 million, which ups the total base spending increase to $2.95 billion.

Political beat-down just beginning in governor’s race

Published by admin on Sun, 08/14/2022 - 11:04am

The ongoing uproar over Darren Bailey's 2017 claim that the Holocaust "doesn't even compare on a shadow" to the lives lost to abortion reminded me of a scene in an old movie called "A Bronx Tale."

The irony of Democrat’s ad against Irvin

Published by admin on Sun, 04/03/2022 - 1:33pm

As you probably already know, the Democratic Governors Association recently launched a TV ad blasting Republican gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin for claiming to be a crimefighter while having defended dangerous criminals as a defense attorney.

Texting between Lightfoot and Pritzker revealing

Published by admin on Sun, 12/19/2021 - 1:43pm

Matt Chapman, a self-described data nerd who runs a not-for-profit group called "Free Our Data," recently filed Freedom of Information Act requests with Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's office. He wanted everything received by the Chicago Tribune this year via their FOIA requests.
Chapman's trove included text messages sent back and forth between Lightfoot and state leaders, including Gov. JB Pritzker.
Most of the conversations were innocuous or polite. The governor thanked the mayor for sending him a bottle of tequila, for example.

Pritzker’s thoughts on whether to lift mask mandate

Published by admin on Sat, 11/13/2021 - 10:32am

Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters not long ago that he was worried about the plateauing COVID-19 hospitalization rate and said he wouldn't yet lift his statewide mask mandate.
But the governor told me something around the same time during an interview that he hasn't yet said publicly: He's most concerned about what may happen in January and February and upbeat about the spring and summer.

Will the PNA repeal bill sway state voters?

Published by admin on Fri, 11/05/2021 - 4:37pm

I interviewed Gov. JB Pritzker a few days before his Democratic Party was stunned by losses and near-losses in Virginia and New Jersey last week.
Now, I am not one of those folks who automatically believes that candidates should plan for the next election based on the most recent election results. I also don’t think that things which work well in one state will work in another.

Energy bill proves there’s a new way in Springfield

Published by admin on Sun, 09/12/2021 - 9:54am

"This is what decentralized, collective leadership looks like," declared House Speaker Chris Welch's spokesperson Jaclyn Driscoll not long after the chamber approved the climate/energy bill on an unexpectedly lopsided 83-33 roll call on Thursday.
The vote was without a doubt a spectacular victory, especially considering the Senate was unable to put together its own package that could pass both chambers and be signed into law.

Pritzker: Masks now mandated at schools, day cares, long-term care facilities

Published by admin on Wed, 08/04/2021 - 3:49pm

SPRINGFIELD – Masks will be required at all Illinois long-term care facilities, day cares and Pre-K-12 schools, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday amid a nationwide surge of COVID-19.

Energy reform bill a minefield for lawmakers

Published by admin on Sun, 05/09/2021 - 10:38am

The state legislators negotiating the new massive energy reform bill were said to have made real progress at their Tuesday working group meeting last week.
Shortly before that meeting began, a legislator who is a longtime union ally and is involved in the talks told me the consensus was that "a pound of flesh" would have to be extracted from Exelon, which wants more subsidies for two nuclear power plants and has been under a dark ethics cloud as the US Attorney's office probes its and its subsidiary ComEd's Statehouse activities.

Gov. Pritzker needs a better budget plan

Published by admin on Sat, 04/24/2021 - 12:59pm

The state's fiscal news of late has been a whole lot better than just about anyone expected. March's base general funds revenue grew by $422 million versus a year ago, mainly because of stronger than expected receipts of personal and corporate income taxes and sales taxes. That follows a growth of $330 million in February's receipts.