After Rauner rebuke, will Rahm Emanuel take gloves off?
Thank you, Gov. Bruce Rauner, for helping us feel something we never thought possible — pangs of sympathy for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The mayor, after all, has certain quirks that...
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Colonel McCormick: A softie behind the ego
He drained my neighborhood, helped pay for my college and fathered the convention center where my own dad used to exhibit machine tools. So don't tell me what to say...
Liberals ignore Middle American anxiety at their peril
We can still lose this thing. A lot of my fellow progressives are ditsy with over-confidence after watching the buffoons and know-nothings frothing and fumbling at the GOP presidential "debates."...
One man’s greed may benefit the rest of us
He had to go ruin it for everybody. Just when the drug industry was about to catch up with the rest of corporate America, just when Big Pharma had hit...
How to ease the Chicago property tax hit
Homeowners of Chicago, welcome to Schedule A. Oh sure, many of you already figure your federal income taxes using the "Itemized Deductions" attachment to IRS Form 1040. You already know...
I’m frustrated by p.w.c. — public works correctness
Donald Trump's frontal assault on political correctness has been the surprise hit of the 2016 presidential derby. Turns out a big slice of America is fed up with "p.c." dictums...
Give this to Rauner: Nix the Project Labor Agreement on foreclosed homes
The 6200 block of South Rockwell Street is an odd place to discover a potential breakthrough in this summer's standoff between Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan. Like...
When the voters really don’t matter
Not so fast with those remap "reform" petitions. Sure, Illinois needs to change the hyper-partisan way its lawmakers redraw legislative districts every 10 years to reflect population changes recorded by...
For fortunate few, status quo in Illinois is just fine
It's hard to negotiate with someone who already has what he wants. That's the underlying but very real problem faced by Democrats in Springfield as they continue to bargain with...
A Mike Pence pile-on invites long-term losses
Get too far ahead of public opinion ... and you lose. It's a lesson I learned in college during the late '60s. Not in some political science course, but through...