Progress Illinois

As Illinois' budget crisis has persisted, we've watched schools prepare to trim from their budgets and social service agencies cut programs for the disabled, elderly, and vulnerable. In the Tribune today, School Dist. 33 Supt. Ed Leman expressed his outrage: "The state legislature, knowing full well that the crisis was coming, failed to act. ... The entire state is being held hostage, and that's inexcusable."  Now that the primary season is over, supporters of an income tax hike are preparing to step up the pressure on lawmakers. In that vein, the Responsible Budget Coalition launched their "We Can’t Wait” campaign today. If you or someone you know has been impacted by the budget crisis, find out how to make your voice heard.

Full Disclosure: The SEIU Illinois State Council, which sponsors this website, is a member of the Responsible Budget Coalition.

Last week, we highlighted Tracy's Siska's criticism of the alarmist media coverage regarding Gov. Quinn's early prisoner release program.  In the comments section of our post, Capitol Fax's Rich Miller challenged Siska to provide actual examples of this coverage.  In a new item on the Chicago Justice Project blog, he offers more detail, as well as some broader thoughts on the issue.

With virtually every news outlet in the state reporting that House Republicans are pushing a new campaign finance bill, it's worth taking a step back and examining just how badly the Democratic leadership handled ethics reform last year. First, they passed a bill that was so poorly designed Gov. Pat Quinn was pressured to veto it weeks after calling it "historic." The revamped version addressed many of the pitfalls identified by the reform community, but still preserved -- at the behest of Speaker Michael Madigan -- the ability of the "Four Tops" and the political parties to dole out unlimited funds during the general election. Not surprisingly, the media and the GOP vocally criticized the Democratic bill.  In the following months, Republicans have been able to cast themselves as the reform party and yesterday's headlines only help to solidify that image (even though a Democrat, State Sen. Heather Steans, is the lead sponsor of the new campaign finance bill in the Senate). In short, while Dems took some action last year, the GOP is now trying to run away with the issue.

Currently, 4,600 Illinoisans rely on the Illinois AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), with over 100 additional people -- many of them unemployed -- applying each month.  To meet an anticipated 15 percent surge in enrollees this year, the state is now being forced to cut back on another important service: HIV prevention.  Last week, State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) convened a public hearing in Chicago to brainstorm "a balanced and sustainable solution to this public health emergency.”  David Ormsby has more on the latest casualty of the state budget crisis.