Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will speak in Palatine next Tuesday, February 25th. Preckwinkle will appear at a fundraiser for Matt Flamm, candidate for Palatine Township Democratic Committeeman, between 4:30 and 7:00 at Emmett’s Brewing Company, 110 N. Brockway St., Palatine. Tickets begin at $50, or $25 for volunteers who commit to at least one phone bank or other campaign ac... »
Many people intend to vote, but don’t. Our elections are on a work day for most people. You have to drive to the polling place, park, wait in line, vote, and return home. If you don’t have a car, you need to find a ride. If you have young children, you may need to bring them with you. Early voting gives you more flexibility, but you still have to make time to get to a voting site durin... »
Shirley Forpe, a longtime Palatine teacher and union official, has announced her support for Matt Flamm to be the next Palatine Township Democratic Committeeman. She had had filed petitions to run for the position but withdrew from the race. A resident of Palatine for more than 40 years, Forpe is a retired District 211 teacher and continues as a substitute teacher. She was a Vice President of the ... »
At a candidates’ forum in the Quad Cities on December 11th, Bruce Rauner said “I will advocate moving the Illinois minimum wage back to the national minimum wage.” You can click on this video and watch the first five minutes. Rauner’s proposal would reduce the minimum wage in Illinois from $8.25 per hour to $7.25. Karen Lewis, President of the Chicago Teachers Union, pointe... »
Conventional wisdom is that President Obama had a “bad year” in 2013. You hear it on talk shows and read it in newspaper columns. People cite the government shutdown, problems with the Obamacare rollout, and disclosures about the NSA. But was it really a bad year? Consider these facts: 1. The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) went into effect October 1st, despite the determined effo... »
The Daily Herald recently ran an excellent three-part series on Firearms Owners Identification (FOID) Cards. About 10% of people in the suburbs have FOID cards, which means that 90% of us don’t. Even among those who have FOID cards, most are hunters or people who have a family heirloom or a gun for protection in their home. Most of them support reasonable regulation of privately-owned firea... »
In the December 23rd issue of the Reader, Ben Joravsky and Mick Dumke give out their third annual awards for “political ‘achievement.'” Here’s a good one: “THE MITT ROMNEY AWARD . . . for pretending to be an average Joe when you’re actually a gazillionaire who has so many homes it’s hard to keep track of them all: Bruce Rauner, Republican candidate for gov... »
Everyone notices when Congress fails to do its job (for example, the government shutdown). It’s important to notice when they do things right. Over the past few weeks, the House passed a bipartisan compromise budget that will avoid going from crisis to crisis for the next two years. The Senate changed its rules to reduce abuse of the filibuster. And despite a lot of counterproductive rhetori... »
Matt Flamm, Candidate for Palatine Township Democratic Committeeman, wrote this letter to the Daily Herald: Cokie and Steve Roberts are half right (“Fallout from the ‘nuclear option’ in the Senate,” 12/3/13). They correctly say that “Republicans were totally unjustified in using the filibuster to block three of President Obama’s eminently qualified nominees to t... »
Matt Flamm, a Democratic activist and organizer for President Obama’s campaigns, is a candidate for Democratic Committeeman of Palatine Township. Flamm filed his nominating papers with the Cook County Clerk on Monday morning. Flamm is running to succeed incumbent Committeeman Sue Walton, who is not seeking reelection. “Under Sue Walton’s leadership, Palatine Township has changed ... »
