Rich Miller

Trouble is, the governor committed to the House Speaker and Senate President not to spend that money until all three could agree what it would be spent on.

Whenever someone assures you that another person you’re both dealing with “understands” the “quid pro quo,” you’d be wise to run away as fast as you can and never look back.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s national victory and his losing margin dropping to 11 points in Illinois from 17 in two prior races, state legislative Democrats have different views on how their party should proceed.

The Democratic legislative leaders are still trying to figure out what their members want to do in the wake of Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s victory and whether that can be done.

As usual, plenty of false claims have been made during this state legislative election cycle.

One of the most important legislative debates next year will be about reforming, restructuring and finding a way to fund northeast Illinois’ public transportation system.

Illinois Senate President Don Harmon continues piling up campaign money. His latest quarterly report for his personal campaign committee showed Harmon had $13.4 million in the bank, up almost $2 million from the previous quarter.

“Some of the same individuals who claim to support an elected representative school board only got the gospel once I became mayor of Chicago,” Mayor Johnson told reporters during one of the most combative and counter-productive press conferences I have ever seen.

This year, the state Democratic Party claims it is pushing 80 countywide and county board candidates in 19 counties where they think they can flip seats to their side.

For months now, Statehouse types have been talking about whether there’s a need for a fall veto session this year. The session is scheduled to run the two weeks after the November election.

It’s been an open secret for weeks that at least some members of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Intergovernmental Affairs staff would be leaving after the Democratic National Convention, including its director, Sydney Holman.

The governor talked about a third term during a state delegates’ convention breakfast, but cautioned his audience that his wife, MK, was his “term limit,” explaining that if people want him to run again they’ll first have to convince her.

I don’t know if he pioneered it or not, but while reading the national commentary, it occurred to me that Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has been pressing home the importance of “freedom” for several years here.

Our aging president has dropped out of the race, and now our aging news media narratives need to do the same.

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.