It was Russel Long who popularized the apt ditty Don’t tax you, don’t tax me, tax that fellow behind the tree describing the reluctance of politicians to advertise that they must tax someone to gain government revenue. The fellow behind the tree is always the other guy: smokers, gamblers, wealthy people, tourists, anybody but one’s political constituents. Of course, politicians dole out such broad favors in search of votes. we eventually run out of fellows behind the tree.Consider...

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The gloom is hard to miss: Libya, oil prices, budget battles, a pull-back in stock prices, or downward revisions to GDP…and about how these will cause weaker growth (or even a recession) ahead. But the world is always full of potential events that could cause a panic, recession, even a depression. The world is never perfectly “safe.” If nuclear war broke out or if Saudi Arabia got into a nasty civil war, the risks to the US economic environment and the stock market would rise immeasurably.But,...

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From the Chicago Tribune When a University of Illinois student was denied admission to a dual-degree program last fall, her parents turned to their state legislator for help and sparked a series of events reminiscent of the admissions scandal that rocked the state’s flagship campus in 2009. At the request of state Sen. Dan Duffy’s office, the university’s chief lobbyist in September sent a letter to admissions staff regarding the denial. Her office also followed up with a phone...

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Is anyone else getting tired of all the polls? Every day we’re presented with polls on everything from what we think of Afghanistan or Libya or Iraq. Polls try to tell us the trending views on the economy, jobs, health care, and the administration, the Republicans, the Democrats. We’re even seeing polls on Charlie Sheen and Piers Morgan.It’s hard to peg just when this practice of polling on every subject began, but it has now entered into the bizarre world of “fighting polls”. Take...

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A onetime Tony Rezko business partner, who once was a Chicago cop and chief executive of a company that won a $50 million security contract in Iraq, has pleaded guilty to federal charges in Chicago after he cooperated with authorities.Daniel T. Frawley pleaded guilty on Feb. 14 to bank fraud and structuring transactions — a plea that came about two weeks after his charges were made public. Read more at the Chicago Sun-Times
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From Crain’s Senior Republican on the RTA Board, Addison Township GOP Committeeman Pat Durante, said it’s Mr. Brady who needs to back off. Mr. Durante noted that Mr. Matyas has worked as a Capitol lobbyist for several years, most recently with the Humane Society of the United States. “His (Madigan) relationship shouldn’t be held against him,” said Mr. Durante, a longtime adviser to the late Congressman Henry Hyde. “I’ve been in politics a lot longer than...

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