Written by John Biver
The Illinois News Network reported some big news about a new national “political power” record that was set this week:
Illinois’ longest serving House speaker is now the United State’s longest serving statehouse speaker.
The title was held for years by a South Carolina politician from the 1970s, but the title now goes to Chicago Democrat Michael Madigan.
Madigan has been speaker of the Illinois House every year since 1983, except for two years in the 1990s when Republicans were in the majority.
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Tags: Bruce Rauner, George Ryan, Illinois Democratic Party, Illinois General Assembly, Illinois House, Illinois News Network, Illinois Republican Party, Jack Roeser, Jim Edgar, Jim Thompson, Michael Madigan
Illinois Politics | David E. Smith | 
August 12, 2017 4:00 AM | 
Comments Off on Illinois Republicans Set National Record for Losing Elections
Written by Carol Ostrow
Illinois lawmakers are using a seemingly surreptitious way to give themselves pay raises: creating new and useless committees for which they are automatically paid an extra $10,326 as chairmen, a Chicago-based think tank is arguing.
The Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) says that legislation enacted in the House in January created 12 new standing committees, bringing the total to 45.
“In Illinois, bloat doesn’t discriminate,” senior writer Austin Berg wrote on the group’s website.
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Written by the Chicago City Wire
The Illinois Policy Institute is proposing a budget conservative group leaders contend would put an end to the state’s nearly two-year impasse, closing a $7.1 billion deficit without adding any new taxes.
The Budget Solutions 2018 plan calls for comprehensive property tax reform — which Illinois Policy Institute execs insist amounts to $3.4 billion in savings — by taking simple steps like freezing property taxes over the next five years and putting an end to state subsidies and mandates that, the group argues, needlessly drive up the cost of government.
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