A remap primer

Illinois Tax Hike: State Lawmakers Close To Passing Massive Tax Boost
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Crippled by a massive Deficit, Illinois has seen its bills pile up and its bond Ratings fall. Now the state's Democratic leaders are making a desperate effort, and fighting the clock, to fill the Budget hole with an equally massive Tax Increase. They want to boost the Personal Income Tax Rate temporarily by up to 75 percent, pushing the current rate of 3 percent as high as 5.25 percent. In sheer percentage terms, the Illinois proposal could be the biggest Tax Increase...

Illinois voters are voting for their own demise
I live in the city of Homer Glen in the Great taxing State of Illinois. I have said over and over we need to disconnect from the State of Illinois all counties except Cook forming the States of Illinois which will be just Cook County and South Illinois which could become a State like Texas. Illinois could figure out how to raise taxes on its people that for the most part want to take more than they are willing to pay in taxes. The rest of us will be saved from this corrupt, bloated, democratic d...

Southern Democrats in dire straits; 2011 looms large
Democrats lost almost everywhere in November, but in no region was it worse than in the South. And since the election, more than 20 Democratic State Legislators in the region have switched to become Republicans, adding a troubling trend to the mixture. The decline of Southern Democrats on the federal level has been evident for decades. But over the last two months, they've taken a huge hit at the state legislative level too. According to data from the National Council of State Legislatures (see ...

McDonnell creates bipartisan redistricting commission
Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) announced Monday that he has created a Bipartisan advisory commission on redistricting months before Virginia attempts to redraw its state legislative and Congressional Districts. The commission will be comprised of 11 members with an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, two former judges, one former Federal Judge nominated by a Republican president and one former state judge initially elected by a Democratic-led legislature and an independent chairman. McDonnell al...

In legislative hands, tax-reform proposal poses a lot of dangers
Handing a major rewrite of the state’s tax code to a novice Governor and a rudderless state Senate isn’t exactly great timing, especially since state leaders already have their hands full trying to deal with a Budget shortfall of as much as $2 billion. But, hey, things could be worse. If the volatile Glenn Richardson were still serving as speaker of the House, conditions for fiscal disaster would be pretty much perfect. His replacement as speaker, the more mature and stable David Ralston, ...

Southeast Side to get 556 acres of parkland
For the better part of the last century, the city's Far Southeast Side has served as Chicago's underbelly for grimy but necessary industries: steel, landfills and factories. Visionaries and city leaders expect the region to have a much cleaner and more natural future. On Wednesday, the Chicago Park District board is scheduled to accept a transfer of 556 acres of marshland from the city, pending approval from the City Council, as part of Mayor Richard Daley's plan to transform nearly 3,900 acre...

States of Seige
For California State Government Budget, it's the day of the locusts. If you're going to UCLA, bring hour own toilet paper. It all goes back to the infernal Prop 13, which deprives local governments of crucial revenue and requires the state to fill in. That plus the dumb tax and budget rules binding the State Legislature have sent the state swirling down the toilet bowl. New York's new Governor is poised to send the Empire State down the same road. And don't even get me started about NJ Governor...

Let's Read the Constitution Day! - verse 4
We start with the Senate now... and we hit another redacted clause. This was a very significant change of general philosophy: We changed from having the state's legislature select the state's two senators -- in essence, the U.S. senators originally represented the state's government, not its citizens -- to direct Elections of senators, making the Senate almost a "superior House of Representatives." (Ponderable: Was that change wise?) ~ Section 3 - The Senate The Senate of the United States sh...

Deal takes oath of office as governor in weather-plagued inaugural
John Nathan Deal, warm and dry inside the chamber of the House, took the oath of office as Georgia's 82nd Governor Monday, a rite demanded by the state constitution but nearly derailed by Mother Nature. Ga. Politics news, helpful links PolitiFact Georgia » Ray McBerry: "You’ll find blacks in almost every regiment throughout the South who fought right alongside white Southerners," during the Civil War. Deal, 68, was forced to abandon his plans to be sworn in outside on the...

McDonnell creates bipartisan redistricting panel
Gov. Bob McDonnell signed an Executive Order today creating an independent Bipartisan advisory commission on redistricting. McDonnell said the commission will create and review proposed redistricting plans for the Virginia Senate, the House of Delegates and Congressional Districts. The commission will consist of 11 members, including a former Democratic appointee as Secretary of the State Board of Elections and a former Republican appointee. Political commentator Bob Holsworth will be chairman. ...

McDonnell names redistricting panel
Gov. Bob McDonnell on Monday announced a Bipartisan advisory redistricting commission to help the General Assembly redraw legislative and Congressional Districts. Though the General Assembly is not bound by its recommendations, supporters hope the 11-member panel of former officeholders, judges and government officials will put pressure on the legislators to ignore political considerations when drawing up the districts. Legislators, probably meeting in a spring special session, will use new cens...

Ban on synthetic marijuana among first bills to be heard in Minnesota Senate
Two legislators will introduce Legislation on Monday to ban synthetic marijuana in Minnesota. Sens. Katie Sieben, DFL-Newport, and Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, will introduce a bill to ban “Spice,” “K2″ and other herbal products containing synthetic cannabinoids. Bans have already been imposed in much of Europe, and more than a dozen American states as well as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency made the substances illegal in December. “The use of this synthetic d...

Second Arizona transplant hopeful dies as a result of Gov. Jan Brewer's policy
There's a quieter tragedy than Saturday's shooting that's been going on for weeks. Since the decision by Gov. Jan Brewer and the Republican legislature to cut off funding for life saving organ transplants late last year, two Arizonans have died. In late November, Mark Price, an Arizona father who had been battling Leukemia for a year, died due to complications related to Chemotherapy treatment he was receiving. Price was awaiting an organ transplant that could’ve saved his life, but he wa...

Bill to block Brookfield zoo tax clears legislature
Amid discussions of an income Tax Increase last week, the Illinois House unanimously passed a measure prohibiting the village of Brookfield from implementing an amusement tax on Brookfield Zoo. The Senate approved the measure in November, but that didn't stop Brookfield from approving the 25-cent tax in December. If the state measure is signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn, it could lead to further disputes between the village and the zoo. "We believe we have a valid amusement tax," Brookfield Vi...

Van Hollen seeks to add WI to lawsuit opposing health care reform legislation
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen yesterday officially submitted the necessary paperwork to the Florida Attorney General’s Office seeking to have Wisconsin added as a plaintiff in the Lawsuit against the Federal Government challenging the constitutionality of the new Health Care reform Legislation.  Joining Van Hollen in this motion were the Attorneys General of Ohio, Kansas, and Wyoming, bringing the number of states attached to the lawsuit, if allowed to proceed as such, to...

Auburn, Oregon And The Spirit Of Innovation
When Auburn defeated Oregon 22-19 last night to win the BCS national championship, many expected a high scoring, high flying shootout full of offensive innovation from two of the most cutting-edge offenses in College Football. And though both offenses sputtered througout most of the night, the innovation on offense that was a hallmark of both teams throughout the season served as perfect symbols of their regions regading the innovative climates that Western (Oregon) and Southern (Auburn) states...

The Great Lone Star Migration
After the initial results of the 2010 Census were released before Christmas, commentators focused on their short-term political effects and demographic implications. Many noted the six House seats and Electoral Votes that will be reapportioned to states carried by John McCain from states carried by Barack Obama. Others noted that California, for the first time since it was admitted to the Union in 1850, gained no new seats. All well and true. But it's also interesting to compare previous C...

San Bernardino County sees population increase, could affect district boundaries
San Bernardino County had an increase in population of about 20,000 people from July 2009 to July 2010, according to a recent report by California’s Department of Finance. The report showed the county went from roughly 2.06 million to 2.08 million in a year, or an increase of 0.96 percent. San Bernardino County is the fifth largest county in the state right behind Riverside County, which the report showed had roughly 2.2 million people - the largest county by population is Los Angele...

Top 10 Examples Of Liberal Hate
Even before details were clear about the Arizona shooting, Left-wingers tried to assess blame for the tragedy to Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the Second Amendment. When it became clear that the gunman was a deranged lunatic whose political philosophy was more in tune with the loony Left than the Tea Party, liberals continued to cry out against a so-called climate of hate perpetuated by Right-wingers. Perhaps those making that charge have forgotten the hatefulness an...

Sampson places new urgency on redistricting reform
The new-minted Senate Minority Democrats got religion on Monday, hours before the start of the 2011 session, and called for the chamber’s majority Republicans — including the members who signed Ed Koch’s pledge supporting redistricting reform — to stick to their promise. “Keep your promise. Pass the pledge,” said Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson, backed by about a dozen members of the conference, including several freshman. During the Q&A, Sampso...

From the newsroom: Assembly coverage outlook
Lawmakers return to Richmond on Wednesday for Gov. Bob McDonnell's sophomore legislative session. After a first year dominated by brutal budgetary decisions, the state's financial outlook has eased somewhat. But dollars will be a driving force in this session as well. As McDonnell again seeks to fund roads and boost Economic Development, he also will try to begin paying back more than $620 million in contributions to the state Retirement System that he and lawmakers diverted last year to help ba...

Grass Roots Starting to Influence State and Local Politics
In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, November 3rd, as many of us were settling into our beds preparing to bask in pleasant dreams about the outcome of the General Election, Joe Straus, the Speaker of the Texas House, announced: “I will continue to lead the Texas House in a fair and respectful way as Speaker, and at this early hour, I’m grateful to have 122 colleagues support me for Speaker, including 76 Republicans and 46 Democrats, and I look forward to visiting with more members in...

Former Congressman Tom Delay Sentenced To Three Years
Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was nicknamed "The Hammer" for his strongarm tactics honed in a career of Texas politics, but on Monday the gavel came down and he received three years in Prison after a jury convicted him of Money Laundering. Of course, the laws that helped get DeLay convicted of bypassing regulations on corporate spending would now be easily circumvented by new election rules. But still, DeLay did help funnel nearly $200,000 in Money to Republican candidates for the State Legislat

Gingrich Touting State Bankruptcy Bill to Gut Pensions
There has been an interesting lack of commentary on an effort underway by Newt Gingrich and his allies to enable State Governments to declare Bankruptcy as a way to slash Pension obligations, and given the lack of mention of other creditors, perhaps only Pension obligations. The latest sighting was via an article today in Pensions & Investments: Former House Speaker and possible GOP presidential contender Newt Gingrich is pushing for Federal Legislation giving financially strapped states ...

Texas Legislature convenes amid budget shortfall
The Texas Legislature will open its 2011 session this week with a blast of conservative chest-beating, a fizzled leadership challenge and a gigantic Budget shortfall that could change State Government as the people have come to know it. Republicans, having fielded their largest House majority in Texas history, now dominate the Legislature more than ever. Most of them are promising to make deep cuts in spending, balance the Budget without new taxes, strengthen ID requirements for voters, crack do...