John Tillman

Calling government unions’ bluff

By Paul Kersey
08/17/2012
As John Tillman noted yesterday, the last few days have been full of political melodrama as the Illinois General Assembly holds a special session that is unlikely to do more than pass a sliver of a reform — if they can even muster that.  But I’d like to call attention to the role that AFSCME is...

Rebuttal to Gov. Quinn’s 2012 State of the State Address

02/01/2012
by John Tillman Below, you will see a link to my brief response to Gov. Quinn’s 2012 State-of-the-State speech presented at noon today in Springfield. The overarching theme with the Governor’s speech is that Illinois is moving forward and is “back on course.” How does that square with the people of Illinois? Actually, 74% say the...

The persuadable middle is listening to Occupy; why the tea party should start, too

10/28/2011
By John Tillman Last week, the Chicago Tribune published a commentary piece I wrote about the Occupy Wall Street protestors in Chicago. They’ve been camped out near my office for the past few weeks, and I decided to engage them in conversation on my way home one night. The media has likened the Occupy Wall Street protestors...

Ralf Seiffe, R.I.P.

09/02/2011
by John Tillman The liberty movement lost a great friend when Ralf Seiffe died unexpectedly yesterday morning. Ralf was truly one of life’s unique characters that come along all too rarely. Ralf was a joyful lover of life, people, history, culture and, of course, liberty. Ralf was a fountain of creativity. He always had a...

One Day in Springfield

06/23/2011
by Mark Cavers Legislators came and went from Springfield yesterday without making significant changes to the budget. We were told that the budget they passed is actually a pretty good one. But, as the Institute’s CEO John Tillman argued on FOX this morning, we are in fact spending more than we did last year. Still, legislators...
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FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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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