Via The Times He’s yet to take office, but Bruce Rauner already is making waves. In a story posted to the Chicago Tribune website after sundown on New Year’s Eve, veteran reporter Rick Pearson expanded on a Crain’s Chicago Business…
Read MoreVia The Chicago Tribune Gov.-elect Bruce Rauner and two key allies pumped $20 million into the Republican’s campaign fund Wednesday to buttress lawmakers who follow the new chief executive’s as-yet unstated agenda after he takes office in mid-January. The move…
Read MoreVia The Daily Journal CHICAGO — Gov. Pat Quinn enters his final days in office with a last speech and special legislative session on the agenda, but it’s unclear whether fellow Democratic leaders will work with him on his proposal…
Read MoreVia The Washington Post In 2014, a number of big thinkers made the surprising claim that government openness and transparency are to blame for today’s gridlock. They have it backward: Not only is there no relationship between openness and dysfunction,…
Read MoreVia Reboot Illinois The Illinois State Board of Elections website contains a treasure trove of useful data, but I wouldn’t call it user-friendly to first-time users. This is especially true if you want to use quarterly campaign finance reports to…
Read MoreThis year’s competitive House and Senate elections have been buffeted by more than a half-billion dollars in spending by groups or parties operating independently of the candidates, a record amount of outside spending in a congressional midterm, according to campaign…
Read MoreVia CHANGE Illinois! Click Here to view the report
Read MoreVia Politico The 100 biggest campaign donors gave $323 million in 2014 — almost as much as the $356 million given by the estimated 4.75 million people who gave $200 or less, a POLITICO analysis of campaign finance filings found….
Read MoreVia The State Journal-Register Once upon a time, Illinois was known as the Wild West of campaign finance because the state lacked any substantive limits on what candidates could raise and spend on their runs for political office. That was…
Read MoreVia The Huffington Post WASHINGTON — Nearly five years after the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United altered the landscape for money in politics, Congress has done nothing to reverse the ruling’s adverse side effects for disclosure and collaboration between…
Read More