Citizen Action Policy & Politics (Blog)
Your Voice in Government
The Battle for Democracy
Date:
02/10/2015 
John Cameron writes about Governor Rauner and the Koch brothers attacks on democracy, labor unions, and the middle class. Mr. Cameron is the former Executive Director of Citizen Action/Illinois, current Board member of Citizen Action and Director of Political and Community Relations for AFSCME Council 31.
The Battle for Democracy
Congratulations to all of our victorious 2014 candidates
Date:
11/07/2014 
Citizen Action/Illinois & The Progressive Action Project
Remembering Lane Evans: A Hero for Progressives Across the Nation.
Date:
11/07/2014 
(Picture: 2001 Lerner-Egan Award for Distinguished Service Honoree Representative Lane Evans seated with 2001 keynote speaker Senator Paul Wellstone and Representative Jan Schakowsky at our 2001 Annual Dinner)
Citizen Action/ Illinois Announces 2014 General Election Endorsements
Date:
09/23/2014 
The State’s Largest Publ
Rauner's Tight Ties with the Koch Brothers
Date:
06/17/2014 
BRUCE RAUNER’S OVERLAPPING INTERESTS
by Lynda DeLaforgue
The Cozy World of Bruce Rauner and the Griffins – How the Very Rich are Creating Their Own Media Outlets
Date:
06/12/2014 
By Lynda DeLaforgue, Co-Director
UPDATE – June 13: Ken Griffin just donated another $2.5 million to Bruce Rauner on June 11, 2014. It would take a minimum wage worker ($8.25 hr – 40 hr week) almost 150 years to earn $2.5 million. Heck, that’s probably two generations of minimum wage workers.
Something is rotten in the state of Illinois when this kind of money is used to buy a governorship.
In 2012, hedge fund mogul Anne Griffin launched and was sole funder of RebootIllinois.com, a for-profit website. While Reboot purports to be non-partisan, as Rick Pearson of the Chicago Tribune puts it, “Reboot Illinois, that calls itself nonpartisan but has echoed GOP critiques on topics from public worker pensions to improving the business climate and school funding.” (Trib 10-1-12)
Now it appears that Reboot is moving into a world of political polling. Major news sources are covering the current Reboot poll of the Governor’s race as top news.
Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value
Date:
03/20/2014 
by Citizen Action/Illinois Policy Council member Bea Lumpkin:
March is Women’s History Month, dedicated to advancing women’s equality. So why aren’t we smiling? Maybe it’s because women are averaging only 77 cents to every $1.00 of men’s average pay. And as bad as the gender gap is in general, the gap is worse for women of color. African American women average only 64 cents and Latina women only 52 cents to every $1.00 of men’s average pay (AFSCME.org).
Do we need public education?
Date:
02/19/2014 
From Citizen Action/Illinois Policy Council member Beatrice Lumpkin:
The last two mayors of Chicago do not seem to think that we need public education. They have been busy privatizing education. Just weeks after Mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s appointed school board closed 50 public schools, they approved the opening of seven additional private charter schools. These charter schools are privately controlled but publicly funded. They are not supervised by any public agency. They report to no one other than their company’s CEO. The public, which pays for charter schools through their taxes, has no input into any educational practices of the charter schools. Unlike Chicago public schools, where key decisions are made by an elected Local School Council, neither parents nor community control anything a Charter School does.
Citizen Action/Illinois Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
Date:
08/22/2013 
by Citizen Action/Illinois Co-Director William McNary:
Citizen Action/Illinois Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington
Too many people of goodwill have never connected bigotry with economic exploitation. They have deplored prejudice but tolerated or ignored economic injustice. But these two evils have a malignant kinship.
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Fair Taxes and Ending Wasteful Loopholes
Date:
05/14/2013 
Closing Wasteful Corporate Loopholes in Illinois
by William McNary, Co-Director, Citizen Action/Illinois
During the 2013 legislative session, we asked you to help us pass legislation to stop the 3 most wasteful corporate loopholes in Illinois. With your help, over 9,000 emails and calls were made to our elected officials in Springfield demanding an end to wasteful loopholes.
