It's instructive that the majority of Republicans voted against pension bills in both the Senate and the House. Neither the Madigan nor the Cullerton bills met the GOP litmus test.

It looks like 22 Republicans voted NO, including Bost, Fortner, Pihos, Pritchard, Reboletti, Sacia and Tryon.

The IL Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF) is a healthy defined benefit pension system. The reason the IMRF is more than 80% funded, while the other five state pensions are less than 505 funded, is that the municipal employers are required to make their full annual contributions. The state doesn't permit towns to delay or underpay the employer contributions.

When confronted with disconfirming DNA evidence, prosecutors prefer to concoct far-fetched theories to dismiss that evidence instead of admitting they are wrong. This necrophilia theory reminds me of a theory Waller's office came up with in Lake County. Jerry Hobbs was wrongly indicted for raping and murdering two girls, but DNA from the sperm in one of the victims came back to an accused rapist who had been living in the neighborhood at the time. Not to Hobbs. The SAO claimed the girls were playing in the woods and must have accidently inseminated themselves with some stray sperm. that the rapist must have ejaculated on a log. What's the bigger insult to our intelligence, necrophilia or playing in the woods? jpn After reading your misdirected anger at Birkett for the Nicarico case, I wonder if you direct any of your ire at Daley, Devine or Alvarez for the dozens and dozens of miscarriages of justice on their watch?

A couple of suburban Republican prosecutors -- Jim Ryan and Mike Waller -- were involved in a handful of wrongful convictions, and have been pilloried in the press for years. Meanwhile, CCSAs such as Daley, Devine and Alvarez escape such criticism despite dozens of such cases every bit as much flagrant miscarriages of justice as in DuPage and Lake Counties. If was good to see retired CCASA Bob Milan on 60 Minutes. He admitted he had been mistaken in prosecuting the Englewood Four. He said he had not understood at the time why someone innocent would confess to murder. It reminds me of how Jim Ryan, when he ran for governor in 2010, apologized to Cruz and Hernandez. It's too bad prosecutors have to retire before they gain such insight.

Ironically, tHe GOP candidate for assessor allowed Berrios to win in 2010 by splitting the anti-Berrios vote with Claypool.

Roger Eddy was a prominent member of the House GOP caucus for the last several years, handling many of the floor speaking duties.

== Illinois’ crisis is due to habitual overspending, that results in unpaid bills.== IL is one of the ten lowest spending states, either as a percent of state GDP or per capita.

The proposed new IL DL will state on its face that it is not for identification purposes.

Judge Brim survived, proving once again that our retention sytem is broken. All 57 judges were retained.

While piously blaming Democrats for the credit downgrade, Republicans studiously ignore what S & P actually said. S & P said there are two reasons for the downgrade: the unfunded pension liability AND the temporary tax hike, which is scheduled to expire at the end of 2014. If the tax hike expires -- or is repealed, as most Republicans advocate -- the state's creditworthiness will inevitably suffer another downgrade. If Republicans actually want to improve our credit rating, then they should not be trying to remove $6 billion in revenue, which would clearly make paying bills more problematic. So which is more important? Paying the state's bills and improving its credit rating, or cutting taxes and letting the credit rating reach new lows?

S & P said there are two reasons for the downgrade: the unfunded pension liability and the temporary tax hike, which is scheduled to expire at the end of 2014. In other words, if the tax hike expires, or is repealed, then S & P will find Illinois even less creditworthy. Don't all the GOP candidates want to repeal the tax hike?

The two indicted analysts work for Commissioner Larry Rogers. Former Sen. Ricky Hendon used to work for Rogers as well.

The majority of House Republicans, including Leader Cross, voted for this expansion of state regulation. Rep. Tryon was the chief sponsor in the House.

Cigarette taxes will more than double if this goes through. Among the Republicans voting for this huge hike are several who signed Grover Norquist's ATR Pledge to never vote for tax hikes. The pledge breakers are Reps. Bost, Pritchard, Sacia, Senger and Winters. http://s3.amazonaws.com/atrfiles/files/files/State%20Taxpayer%20Protection%20Pledge%20List_CURRENT_2012(7).pdf

Some 26 members of the General Assembly have taken the Norquist pledge to never vote for tax or fee increases. A unanimous vote for a new fee on strip clubs means there were 26 pledge violators. The cigarette tax hike passed in the House with support from several pledgers.

There's no question that cigarette taxes are among the most highly regressive taxes. That regressivity didn't seem to bother anyone the last time the state boosted its excise tax on smokes. That was in 2002 when a Republican governor asked for a 40-cent increase. And most Republican legislators complied.

Most of Rep. Ramey's funding has come from the two giant teachers' unions, both of which (IEA & IFT) have endorsed him. Sen. Dillard has also attracted teacher union support. I haven't yet heard conservative critics of the IEA say a cross word about these donations and endorsements.

JC Fair enough. Let's check back after the November election with the only test that matters, namely whether they carry their township for the GOP slate. Then we can make a definitive evaluation of the organization's efficacy.

Let's wait until the fall election to gauge how potent STRO is. If they carry the township for president, congressman, two state senators, two state reps, and states' attorney, then it would be fair to say the good old days are back.

---Empirical evidence has little to do with crafting policy about criminal law. Legislators vote for any new restriction out of fear of being labeled soft on sex offenders by their next opponent if they don't vote for it. Regardless of the lack of evidence the restriction-of-the-month will be efficacious.

---This whole case could've been resolved a quarter century ago when Dugan offered to plead guilty in return for life in prison. Now, after DuPage County repeatedly prosecuted three innocent men until 1999, and millions of tax dollars later, we have the same outcome: Dugan serving life without parole for the Nicarico murder.

Since the state GOP platform unequivocally opposes gambling expansion, can't we expect the majority of Republican legislators to oppose this huge expansion?

The teachers unions and other public employee unions find TABOR anathema. If the proposal really wouldn't do anything, then why are the unions fighting it? Along with the House Republicans! At least one conservative group recognizes that Madigan is embracing spending restraint. Here's Joe Calomino's comment: "AFP Illinois feels that this proposal's call for implementing a spending limit tied to per capita personal income growth is a meritorious, thoughtful and serious policy proposal worthy of further consideration."

"Had this limit been in place from fiscal years 1997 to 2009, Illinois would have saved a cumulative $29.4 billion over actual general spending." Twenty-nine billion dollars doesn't sound like a "fake" spending reduction. It's more than twice the current budget deficit.