Few people in Springfield know Illinois politics better than Rich Miller. In 1993, after working for a few years for a company that collected legislative information for lobbyists, Miller started a political newsletter called Capitol Fax. As it grew, he expanded to include the website capitolfax.com, and now has well over a thousand annual subscribers, plus many others who read Miller’s free content online.
Illinois Public Media's Brian Moline talked with Miller on Monday, shortly after the governor's office announced that it was restoring eligibility for thousands of families to the state's Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP). Miller says this was a significant announcement.
You can read more from Rich Miller at his website. He also writes for Crain’s Chicago Business, and has a syndicated column that runs weekly in several newspapers around Illinois.
Miller says Governor Rauner and Speaker Madigan should heed the advice of former governor Jim Edgar.
"It would be nice if they could set this stuff aside and focus on what governor Edgar called 'the doable,'" Miller said. "If you're going to throw doable out the window, then nothing will be done. Both sides need to start thinking about that, and thinking about what they can actually get done without hurting more people."