Illinois Political News
UPDATE: Proft announces GOP run for governor
CHICAGO – Conservative Republican Dan Proft is running for Illinois governor.
A political commentator on WLS radio, Proft announced Tuesday he’s in the race because Illinois needs new leadership. He promised to take on the top Democrats who control the state.
Proft has experience running political campaigns. He was a top aide in Republican Alan Keyes’ unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate seat that Democrat Barack Obama won in 2004. Proft is an executive at a Chicago communications firm.
The 37-year-old Chicagoan joins what is shaping up to be a crowded GOP gubernatorial primary.
State Sens. Bill Brady of Bloomington and Matt Murphy of Palatine already have announced they’re running. Fellow state Sen. Kirk Dillard also appears poised to jump into the race, and DuPage County Board Chairman Bob Schillerstrom has announced an exploratory committee
Chicago Sun Times says “game on” for taxpayers this week, more candidates eye the Illinois Governor’s race, and Illinois and Missouri look to work together for a high-speed railroad.
Taxpayers beware: Game is on this week Chicago Sun Times
The taxpayers of Illinois and Chicago face a week of Gov. Quinn pushing his income tax increase and Mayor Daley explaining why Chicagoans might need to guarantee any financial losses from the 2016 Olympics.
Quinn is waving a knife over human services spending — saying it must be slashed if his plan to hike the state tax from 3 percent to 4.5 percent is rejected. For his part, Daley will argue Chicago taxpayers face little risk of being on the hook for the Olympics, and he may assert the city’s bid for the Summer Games is on the line because the other bidding cities gave guarantees.
Taxpayers should approach all this with a highly skeptical eye.
Illinois lawmakers going back to work on budget Channel 5-St. Louis
CHICAGO (AP) — It’s time for Illinois lawmakers to go back to work.
Lawmakers are due in Springfield on Tuesday afternoon for a special session to try to fix the state budget.
But there was no sign Monday there was enough support among lawmakers to pass the income tax increase Gov. Pat Quinn wants to avoid deep budget cuts. Quinn has warned services for the poor, elderly and disabled could be eliminated or reduced.
Quinn, Missouri governor unite behind high-speed rail
| Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (left) and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn sign a memorandum of cooperation Monday on high-speed rail development between Chicago and St. Louis at a news conference at the St. Louis, Mo., Amtrak station. (AP photo) |
ST. LOUIS – Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Monday pledged to share resources, expertise and information to make a planned high-speed rail corridor between St. Louis and Chicago a reality.
At a news conference at the St. Louis Amtrak station, the Democratic governors said cooperation between the states would help them compete for part of roughly $8 billion in federal stimulus money set aside for high-speed rail.
Quinn called the federal government’s support for high-speed rail “the opportunity of the century.”
Blagojevich friend and chief fundraiser gets 37 months in jail
Christopher Kelly, a former adviser and chief fundraiser for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, was sentenced to 37 months in prison today on federal tax fraud charges for concealing his use of corporate funds to cover gambling debts.
Kelly had faced up to 4 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to the charges in January, admitting he underreported his roofing company’s profits by nearly $500,000 from 2001 through 2005.
And it looks like Dan Proft will officially announce today that he’s also entering the race for Illinois Governor:
Uh-oh, Box-o’-Rocks! Bushes are a’rustlin’ over on yer right flank! Could be ….. Dan Proft!
OK, here’s what we’ll do. Remember how we came up this hill? Well, we’ll go down the same way, swingin’ like a door. And we’ll sweep up all those other candidates, and, then, meet Miz Lisa at the bottom. Ready? Charge!
Finally a candidate conservatives can get excited about. Qualification 1: a real conservative, unlike the pretenders currently running. Qualification 2: not a politician.
Sounds like a winner. Now, Dan, show me the $10 million you’ll need to get started.
Too bad he was associated with Alan Keyes. That’s not gonna win him any supporters.
As long as Dan maintains his fluoride-free Purity Of Essence and does not allow women to drain it, Coca-Cola vending machines will remain safe, and his campaign will prosper.
Ryan, I’d have to say that’s a downside, but the only one (other than a presumed lack of money. I wonder if he regrets the Keyes days as his first unfortunate job or something. If he embraces that nutbag, I’d have to back away. Keyes is a legitimate Kuckoo.
http://www.proft2010.com/
Face it! It will take an tested politician to take on whoever the dem’s throw into the fray.
I’m hearing more and more people I talk to in the GOP, Dems, and general public I guess, say “Throw the bums out”. I think there may be a real kind of quiet uprising starting against incumbency. So, perhaps a non-politico is someone public will take a look at just as an anti-incumbent vote. But ya, I can see the ads now with Proft and Keyes.
Keyes is definitely a downside, one I hope he overcomes and stays away from, far away. I’m really intrigued by his comments on Illinois not broken, but fixed. That’s brilliant!