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“There were a few surprises when we got here,” Iris Martinez says, including cluttered Daley Center hallways and how some employees are paid. She has ordered an audit of the office, to begin early next year, in hopes of learning what else needs attention.
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Audio and summary Illinois bill would override local law to allow homeless living in all public parks – Wirepoints
April 14, 2026
27 Comments
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago Fiscal Crisis Worse Than Pre-Bankruptcy Detroit, HIV Surge and Public Health Threat From Open Borders Goes Unreported
April 10, 2026
2 Comments
Summary and audio linked here.
Mark Glennon on AM560’s Morning Answer: Chicago pension buyout plan mostly shifts debt rather than eliminating it, property tax surge doubles inflation over three decades
April 3, 2026
9 Comments
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.
WBEZ and Chicago Sun-Times falsely blame Texas Gov. Abbott for 2020 to 2024 surge in Chicago Latino HIV, AIDS infections – Wirepoints Quickpoint
March 31, 2026
11 Comments
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
Why isnt Goatmeat Brown in prison? Im sure that iris martinez will soon be under FBI investigation but shouldn’t her predecessor be locked up first?
“Iris Martinez made history as the first Latina Cook County Circuit Court clerk.”
She made racist history when the very first sentence about her position is a comment about her race. I however will give the author of the article credit for not using the ‘Latinks’ descriptor and instead using Latina.
Martinez will turn the clerks office into a patronage haven for every Latino uneducated incompetent patronage worker she can find. She is a total racist.
Hardly surprising. Long serving state employees are used to a new administration loading up the senior management ranks with folks who, though politically connected or of a PC-correct gender/race/sexual preference/disability status, have absolutely NO experience in managing a complex state agency. Often, no actual boots-on-the-ground management experience at all, this aside from the fact that they also have no knowledge of how things actually “work” in the agency they’ve been gifted. If it’s an elected office, rather than an appointed position, you can count on the good-ol-boy-n-girl network to groom a candidate for the voters who has the same qualifications.… Read more »
You are a complete idiot to think disabled people are taken care of. They are the forgotten minority. The only real minority class is black, Latino and lgbtq. All others need not apply.
As someone who actually works for the state of Illinois, I can assure you that you are absolutely wrong as regards hiring preferences. Protected Class identity – any protected class – race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, veterans status – will put you ahead of a more competent candidate that can’t figure out a way to check one of the hiring-preference boxes. For example: The Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services – the agency responsible for the Home Services and Vocational Rehabilitation programs – has a $9 Billion dollar annual budget. Think about that – between state and federal funding, taxpayers pay… Read more »
I hope there are more people like you in the ranks of state employees who see what is really going on and are willing to tell us. We need your help!
Most state employees are as well-informed about Illinois’ bankruptcy of finances and governance as is the average Illinois voter. Which is to say, too little unbiased information is conveniently available to them. As we are all “represented” by a public-employee union in our employee/employer relationship with Springfield – whether we chose to belong to the union or not – too much of what state employee’s “know” about Illinois is based on what a public-employee union tells them. Further, too many are badly managed in one way or another. I say this after having worked in operations, HR and financial management… Read more »