Individual reps are the key to Madigan's power
Michael Madigan has been elected Speaker of the Illinois House for the 17th time. The state for the past 14 or so years has been running in the red. Every year the financial problems grow worse and worse and during most of those past years, Democrats controlled the House, Senate and governor's office.
Madigan has led the state House and the state into a financial crisis.
Rep. Sam Yingling has again voted to keep Michael Madigan on as speaker of the House again. Rep. Yingling claims to be a fiscal conservative but votes for a leader that has spent Illinois into billions of dollars of debt.
Michael Madigan knows he can count on Sam Yingling for support when it comes to spending money the state does not have. Outside of Chicago. many people complain about the rule of Madigan but the only way to end his rule is to take away the support he has from people like Rep. Sam Yingling.
Next election cycle when Sam Yingling comes around looking for votes to get re-elected and claiming to be a fiscal conservative, remind him about his support for Michael Madigan. Without people like Sam Yingling, Madigan cannot rule like a king in Springfield.
Connie Shanahan
Mundelein
Paper leaves voice of the right wing unchecked
I saw your editorial about fake news, and the irony dripped from it so strongly it pulled the characters out of shape.
It hits me in two ways. During the recent campaign the Daily Herald breathlessly printed every story about every rumor regarding Secretary Clinton that it could find, front page or overleaf. However, most stories about Trump's aberrations, course reversals, insults and rants indenting violence ended up on Page 9, buried under a softball headline. That was fake news. Own it.
And on the same page as that editorial, only inches away, was a letter, uncommented, pushing the totally discredited Laffer curve idea (government income rising after a tax decrease) - ask Kansas about that.
Any reader who wants to keep up with the latest nut-job conspiracy theories need look no further than the Daily Herald letters to the editor section.
It's all there: climate change denial; incorrect statistics on black violence; lies about LGBT issues; incorrect assertions about immigrant crime - not to mention incorrect assertions regarding crime trends, unemployment rates, the national debt, voter fraud rates (while ignoring voter suppression and gerrymandering impacts).
It's all there for your reading pleasure with no disclaimers. And the more factually incorrect the claims, the more space they seem to get.
It's time you start practicing what your editorial admonishes others to do.
Mark Muehlhausen
Schaumburg