The Capitol Fax Blog

• Weekend news roundup August 19, 2017
  * Since I won’t be around Monday… * Urban Institute report shows Illinois’ school funding system is most regressive in the nation, has remained regressive since 1995 * Emanuel, Rauner spar in latest front in war over school funding: Emanuel fires back by saying the city has used TIF districts to pump more money into education [...]
• React to Rauner’s Friday vetoes August 19, 2017
  * Background is here. Comptroller Mendoza… Comptroller Susana Mendoza is calling on the General Assembly to immediately override Governor Bruce Rauner’s veto of the Debt Transparency Act (House Bill 3649), legislation supported by members from both political parties aimed at arming the legislature and taxpayers with more information about the state’s finance […]
• Reader comments closed until Tuesday August 18, 2017
  * I’m going to hang out with my brother Devin and some friends in southern Illinois and watch the eclipse on Monday. Unless the world ends, I’ll be back Tuesday morning. Ozzy will be playing this song Monday during the eclipse and I’m kinda stoked to see it…
• Rauner vetoes several major pieces of legislation August 18, 2017
  * Just about every one of the governor’s vetoes today is a story on its own. But it’s Friday afternoon and nobody is paying attention, so we’ll circle back next week. I assume the comptroller will have something to say about the veto of her bill (HB3649), and others will object as well. [...]
• Four leaders meet in Chicago, plan another sitdown on Tuesday August 18, 2017
  * The four legislative leaders met in Speaker Madigan’s Chicago ward office today to see if they could work out an education funding reform compromise. The meeting was scheduled to start at 1 o’clock. I called Senate President Cullerton’s spokesman John Patterson late this afternoon to ask how the meeting went. “It was a [...]
• Kennedy delivered an unusually somber Democrat Day speech August 18, 2017
  * Chris Kennedy caught a little flack for quoting Walt Whitman at the Illinois Democratic County Chairmen’s Association brunch this week. It was most certainly a different sort of speech than the loud and raw red meat served up by most of the other gubernatorial hopefuls that day. But I thought you might [...]
• Governor signs River Edge bill in Rockford… err… Aurora August 18, 2017
  * Press release… Gov. Bruce Rauner today signed Senate Bill 1783, bipartisan legislation that extends the River Edge Redevelopment Zone tax credit program. The tax credit program has helped preserve historic buildings and grow local economies in the five communities where the credit is applicable: Aurora, East St. Louis, Elgin, Peoria and Rockford. “This pro […]
• Caption contest! August 18, 2017
  * From Chris Kennedy’s Twitter feed…
• All’s well that ends well, I suppose August 18, 2017
  * Tribune… The record-breaking bid Gov. Bruce Rauner made for a prize-winning steer at last year’s Illinois State Fair charity auction has finally been collected — with a little help from Chicago Inc. A year to the day after Rauner made the winning offer of $104,000 for the 1,324-pound animal, his donor, Chicago financier R.J. D’Orazio, [...]
• Question of the day August 18, 2017
  * From comments… How about a Friday “question of the day” where everyone gives us examples of the craziest thing [Speaker] Madigan told us in private? Maybe it will give the Governor some new material. Have fun.