Democratic Party

Harvard study: Trust in government plummets amongst America’s youth

By Justin Hegy
05/01/2014
According to newly released Harvard study, Americans ages 18-29 are losing trust in government. Since just 2010, trust in major government institutions declined by 8 percent among Americans ages 18-29. Not one major government institution in the poll achieved a level of trust of 50 percent or above. The poll revealed more than just a...

Illinois Corruption Watch: April 2014

By Brian Costin
04/30/2014
45.  April 30, 2014 Sun-Times: Criminal probe of Quinn anti-violence plan rocks governor’s race A criminal grand jury has launched a probe into Gov. Pat Quinn’s troubled anti-violence program —  once likened to “a political slush fund” — delivering a major blow to the Democrat as he seeks re-election this fall. On Tuesday, the Quinn...

Top 6 things legislators in Springfield don’t want you to know

By Donovan Griffith
04/25/2014
1. A supermajority means the rules do not apply When it comes to running a state, there is a long list of rules and parliamentary procedures the government must abide by during its everyday operations. These rules govern everything from how votes are taken to how bills are read and are in place to protect...

ObamaCare in Illinois: Just say no to a state exchange

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
04/22/2014
Some bad ideas just won’t stay dead. Despite reasonable opposition from both sides of the aisle in Springfield, some political activists are continuing to push the idea of a state-based health insurance exchange. Illinois has a state-federal partnership exchange currently. At a time when the state’s health-care bureaucracy was caught paying Medicaid benefits on behalf of dead...

Chapa LaVia’s war on school choice

04/04/2014
Should this Twitter ad be illegal? State Rep. Chapa LaVia, a Democrat from Aurora and head of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, thinks so. She’s the chief sponsor of a bill that would prohibit “any and all marketing and advertising to the public for charter school enrollment and recruitment made by a charter...

Quinn, Democrats roll out more tax-and-spend legislative initiatives

By Jane McEnaney
03/29/2014
Just hours after the 2014 gubernatorial primary results were made final, Gov. Pat Quinn and his allies launched a series of class warfare attack ads, which were aimed at playing politics rather than implementing good policy. His administration took no time following suit, unleashing a series of legislative initiatives that, if enacted, would have a...

Progressive tax opposition builds as Senate Republicans make budget demands

By Benjamin VanMetre
02/25/2014
Income taxes will arguably be one of the most contentious issues during the current legislative session. And rightly so. Under current law, all Illinois families and businesses will receive tax relief in 2015. That’s because the state’s personal income tax is slated to drop to 3.75 percent from 5 percent, and the corporate income tax...

Illinois unraveling

02/20/2014
Until the mid-1900s, people from across the world stampeded into Illinois in search of opportunity. Workers from rural America came to build Pullman cars, erect skyscrapers and fill factories. Immigrants from Eastern Europe arrived in search of economic freedom. And laborers left the agrarian South to participate in America’s industrialization. Illinois’ population doubled from 1900...

CBO estimates minimum wage hike to cost 500,000 jobs

By Michael Lucci
02/19/2014
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, or CBO, released an estimate Tuesday afternoon saying that the Obama administration’s proposed minimum wage hike would result in 500,000 fewer Americans being employed. The proposal, supported by Democrats in Washington, D.C., and Springfield alike, is to hike the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. Low-wage workers would see a...

Continuing the trend: Union PACs give big money to Democratic Quinn

By Justin Hegy
01/16/2014
In the race for Illinois governor, campaign contribution restrictions have legally been lifted. Labor union’s political action committees, or PACs, have long been primary financial backers of Democrats both in Illinois and nationally. Unsurprisingly, these PACs are now throwing extraordinary amounts of cash behind Gov. Pat Quinn’s re-election bid. Quinn’s political war chest is closing...

TAGS: campaign finance, labor, PAC: political action committee, unions

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Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016