Jack Frank’s a nice guy and a friend but he can’t convince me that Mike Madigan screwed up Pat Quinn’s session by not raising taxes because he lost the power to convince his troops. Not anyone of Madigan’s leadership stripe. Tax hikes are not anathema to Dems as they are to Republicans or the general public. Madigan gave his step-daughter a golden opportunity for the nomination in 2010 and the general in November. There’s a thought that if Madigan wanted to harm Quinn he’d pass the tax hike-but in the …

This is an open letter to Andy McKenna and the GOP leadership. Please stop asking for a special election. Senator Burris was just put into place after the Democrats publicly and openly screwed up and you want to help them get rid of their problems. We don’t need to give the Democratic leadership, including new Governor Quinn, cover to fix what they did. There will be an election for Burris’s seat! It’s the elections of 2010. We’re in that cycle now; let the voters have their chance to show their …