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Publicly, party leaders made a show of unity. Lightford, who is Senate majority leader, hugged Harmon on the Senate floor Sunday afternoon as she nominated him to become the next Senate president. Harmon, who is white, was elected unanimously after hours of negotiations. But afterward, accusations flew of personal betrayal, and long-time simmering feuds bubbled over.
Lightford, D-Maywood, blamed former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr., and his son, Emil Jones III, who is currently in the Senate, for her loss. She would have been the first female black Senate president. She thinks their opposition may stem from an 11-year old grudge.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Wow, Illinois machine politics palace/ machiavellian intrigue at its finest. And completely out of touch with us surfs..disgusting
Don Harmon is a progressive advocating for the progressive tax; and his twitter feed seems tame, and professional, compared to the twitter feeds of some of our state legislators. His feed is focused on the progressive tax, legal cannabis and community outreach. He is clearly the better choice when compared to Lightford, who champions her authorship of a bill permitting children to receive LBGTQ+ affirming psychotherapy without parental consent. Still, he’s an Oak Park liberal who has in the past, through voting for Democrat legislation, contributed to the demise of our once great state. Hopefully his University of Chicago joint… Read more »
He’s a Democrat, so I’ll revise the end of your sentence from “so I don’t have much hope” to “so I don’t have any hope.”