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Rich Miller biography
Rich Miller has been writing about Illinois politics since 1990. He began publishing Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, in 1993. He is recognized as …
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Legalizing society’s vices is best way to hurt Outfit
Outfit crime boss Michael “The Large Guy” Sarno was sentenced to 25 years in prison this week. Sarno ordered the bombing of a business that was encroaching on his illegal video poker racket. I’m glad that Sarno’s going to prison. I’m also happy that Illinois …Read More
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Roast me now, at 50, while I’m still around
‘Old timer, old timer, too late to die young now.” I’m turning 50 soon, so I’ve been planning a big party in Chicago on March 31 to distract myself from my own mortality. As Todd Snider confides in his song Age Like Wine, “I thought …Read More
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Legislature’s best: State gets a bipartisan lift from Millner, Sullivan, Saviano, Bradley and Mautino
Every year, commenters at my website (CapitolFax.com) vote on something we call the “Golden Horseshoe Awards.” I started the contest as a tongue-in-cheek lark, so I jokingly named it after Springfield’s most infamous culinary offering. People took the contest seriously, though, and, unfortunately, the name …Read More
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Wannabe gangster Blago — all flash and swagger
There’s no real mystery to understanding Rod Blagojevich. He was, and still is, a failed wannabe gangster. Not a real gangster who pops caps in people’s behinds. Blagojevich tried to model himself on movie gangsters. The guy even quoted a character from “The Godfather, Part …Read More
Quinn’s OK a must for more gaming
The last two decades give us a pretty simple Illinois history lesson: Unless all four state legislative leaders and the governor are pulling hard in the same direction, no gaming expansion bill can ever become law. The last significant gaming bill passed a few months …Read More
Two weeks of nothing in our messed up state
The second and final week of the annual state legislative veto session was a disappointing dud. Just about nothing came together, except that one tiny part of the massive state budget problem was solved. Sort of. And only for a year. Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed …Read More
Corporate tax break bidding war heats up
An expensive bidding war is escalating at the Illinois Statehouse and it needs to be slowed down. Gov. Pat Quinn met with the four legislative leaders Thursday morning. Much of the discussion centered around CME Group’s threat to leave Illinois unless it gets a tax …
State Dems in trouble if ‘Obamallac Man’ bailing
History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself. Lots of Illinois Democrats believed after the 2010 national Republican landslide that the worst had passed. They harkened back to 1996, when President Bill Clinton rallied from humiliating midterm losses and decisively won re-election. The Illinois House had been taken …
Obama thinks like a legislator — and that doesn’t cut it
It’s generally considered a rule of thumb that politicians with mainly legislative backgrounds do not make particularly effective chief executives. The two worlds, and their required mind-sets, are vastly different. And, for the most part, our state’s better governors and our country’s most effective presidents …
Drama queen Quinn spreads the blame
Our state’s reigning drama queen has struck yet again. As you know by now, Gov. Pat Quinn held a news conference Thursday to blame the General Assembly for forcing him to close seven state facilities and lay off almost 2,000 employees. The Legislature, Quinn said, …
Corporate tax break bidding war heats up
An expensive bidding war is escalating at the Illinois Statehouse and it needs to be slowed down. Gov. Pat Quinn met with the four legislative leaders Thursday morning. Much of the discussion centered around CME Group’s threat to leave Illinois unless it gets a tax …
Hoping Jobs’ exit spurs flexibility, innovation at Apple
RICH MILLER: I feel almost the same about Steve Jobs retiring from Apple as I felt when Mayor Richard M. Daley announced he’d had enough. I truly appreciate his many years of service, but I’m happy to see him leave.
Stop thinking, gov. Put people to work
‘I think you want a governor who’s thoughtful and thinks of everything before deciding an important matter.” That’s Gov. Pat Quinn, speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon in Chicago. Yes, that’s the same governor who seems to be best known for his policy flip-flops and his …
Pat Quinn’s a union man — until he’s not
Maybe now would be a good time for Gov. Pat Quinn to pay off his bet with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. After all, according to AFSCME, they’re practically soul brothers these days. Quinn bet Walker way back in January that the Bears would beat the …
Too easy to blame McCormick unions
The Illinois General Assembly was back in Springfield for one day this week, but they might return again. The House and Senate had to come back to make sure there were no delays in the state’s massive infrastructure program. The Senate Democrats had tacked some …
Blagojevich’s defense: ‘I’m not sayin’ ... I’m just sayin’’
‘He talked and he talked and that is all he did. . . . They want you to believe his talk is a crime. It’s not.” That statement Thursday by Rod Blagojevich’s attorney Aaron Goldstein, as reported by the Sun-Times’ “Blago Blog,” pretty much sums …
Dem legislators swing to the right and back again left
Remember that Soca Boys song, “Follow the Leader,” which went: “Jump for the left, jump for the right”? That’s probably the best way to sum up what Democratic state legislators have been doing for the past six months. They’ve been following their leaders first in …
Two vultures in ugly fight to claim foreclosure fees
Every now and then, I find myself privately rooting for and against both sides of a bill at the same time. I’m doing it again. Two sides in Springfield are fighting over a rather unseemly and rapidly growing pile of auction fees created by the …
Seeking payback, GOP calls Quinn’s pick ‘pay to play’
There seems to be a deliberate misunderstanding by some state Senate Republicans these days. They’re claiming that Gov. Pat Quinn’s nomination of Terry Cosgrove to the Illinois Human Rights Commission is a disgusting example of “pay to play” politics. But that’s just silly. Pay to …
Dems may approve ‘concealed carry’ to throw GOP a bone
I wouldn’t blame you if you thought things are moving way too fast at the Illinois Statehouse. Civil unions, an income tax increase and then, Wednesday, the death penalty abolition law. But change like this comes maybe once in a generation, if that. Things move …









