By The Illinois Public Interest Research Group

In this year’s campaigns, bigger wallets give a small set of mega-donors an outsized voice, according to new information released today by Illinois PIRG Education Fund and Demos.
In the congressional primaries, just 426 donors who gave $1,000 or more to candidates outspent the at-least 13,315 small donors who gave less than $200, and 64% percent of all contributions came from donors giving chunks of $1,000 or more.
In the last quarter of the Illinois governor’s race, where campaign contribution limits have been lifted, the numbers are even more stark: one individual donor has outspent the at-least 3,208 small donors who gave less than $200, and 85% of all contributions came from donors giving $1,000 or more.

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Posted on November 3, 2014

By Steve Rhodes

Anti-Rauner, not pro-Quinn. Plus: Karen And Toni’s Guy; Never Let A Bribery Scandal Go To Waste; This Is A Chickenshit Town; Bruce Rauner vs. Bill Brady; Kass Is For The Combine.

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Posted on November 1, 2014

By Ed Hammer

Today I became convinced that the best way to test the quality of a political candidate is to determine if he or she likes puppies. I do not know about you, but I never will vote for a candidate, Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, who is not a canine lover.
What convinced me that this is valid criteria to select a candidate is an article on the Huffington Post about Illinois State Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro). Bost is running for Congress this year. His slogan is “Passionate Leadership for Southern Illinois.”
Apparently his passion was expressed back in 1986 when he shot and killed a neighbor’s beagle. Now, the dog did bite his daughter in the face – after she provoked it. And I love dogs. But my two daughters come before any animal. I will do anything to protect my princesses. Bost’s case is a slightly different. He took the law into his own hands. Impatient that the authorities were not responding to his complaint, he grabbed his gun then went to the dog’s cage and killed it.

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Posted on November 1, 2014