Chicago, IL – State Representative David Miller, Democratic nominee for State Comptroller, announced a proposal to “open up government and increase transparency” by creating a publicly available, online database of the salaries of elected officials at all levels of government, including municipal, township, county, state and federal.

This new online database would be added to the Illinois State Comptroller’s website in 2011 under Miller’s proposal, which comes in the wake of a national controversy over the revelations that some city officials in California were secretly earning up to $800,000 per year.

“Taxpayers deserve to know what all their elected officials are being paid since they are the ones footing the bill,” said Miller. “It is extremely difficult for any Illinois resident to find out how much government officials earn. We should never forget that elected officials are employed by the taxpayers of Illinois. By putting salary information online we will expose government excess and bring Illinois government into the 21st century.”

Miller, a dentist, community advocate and south suburban state legislator, will unveil his policy during a five-day, nine county swing beginning Saturday.

Saturday, August 14th
Bud Billiken Parade / Breakfast
Mandrake Park between Oakwood and 39th in Chicago
8:00 AM

Saturday, August 14th
DuPage Democrats Open House / BBQ
1000-7 Rohlwing Rd. in Lombard
Event is from 1:00 – 5:00 PM
Representative Miller will be in attendance from 3:00 – 5:00 PM

Sunday, August 15th
Indian Independence Day Parade
Lineup at intersection of Devon and Western in Chicago
Lineup is 11:00 AM / Parade begins at 12 PM

Sunday, August 15th
Dedication of St. John’s A.M.E. Church
2950 Bilter Road in Aurora
4:30 PM

Sunday, August 15th
Henry County “Meet the Candidate” event
Pioneer Club – 206 North Chestnut Street in Kewanee
6PM – 8PM

Monday, August 16th
Peoria “Meet the Candidate” event
Childers Eatery
3312 North University Street in Peoria
3:00 – 5:00 PM

Monday, August 16th
Tazewell County “Meet the Candidate” event
Pekin Township Building — 420 Elizabeth Street in Pekin
6PM – 8PM

Tuesday, August 17th
Springfield Press Availability
Illinois State Dental Society — 1010 S. 2nd Street in Springfield
3:30 PM – 5:00 PM

Wednesday, August 18th
Illinois Democratic County Chairman’s Association Brunch
Crowne Plaza Hotel – 3000 S. Dirksen Parkway in Springfield
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Wednesday, August 18th
Participation in Democratic / Governor’s Day Rally at State Fair
Illinois State Fairgrounds
12 PM – 2 PM

Wednesday, August 18th
Metro East Young Democrats “Meet the candidate” event
Location TBD
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Miller says his new online database initiative will “build upon the positive and progressive steps Comptroller Dan Hynes took to increase sunshine on how tax dollars are spent.” He says that “taking this action will allow Illinois citizens, government watchdog organizations and reporters much easier access” to the salaries of elected officials and government employees at all levels.

“Let’s turn the page on the politics of the past and move our state forward,” said Miller. “I’m not a career politician. I’m a dentist, a husband and a father – a small businessman and a health care provider. I’ll bring a new approach to government.”

“This new approach – more openness and transparency – will lead to increased public trust and participation. The time has come for a new politics that directs more sunshine on taxpayer dollars are spent. That’s transparency; that’s good public policy; that’s what taxpayers deserve; that’s why I’m running to be the state’s chief fiscal officer,” added Miller.

 Site to Offer Updates, Summaries and Links to Coverage

Chicago, IL – The Illinois Republican Party has launched a comprehensive web site, DismissQuinn.com, to show voters why Pat Quinn should be “dismissed” as governor this fall. The “Dismiss Quinn” title refers to comments from the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. “Pat Quinn is a totally and completely undisciplined individual,” Washington said when he fired Quinn as his Revenue Director. “He was dismissed, he should have been dismissed. [His appointment was] my greatest mistake in government.”

“Dismiss Quinn” follows on the successful “Blago Files” site that tracked the trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. “Dismiss Quinn” will be updated regularly with quotes, news stories, videos and links to campaign coverage between now and Election Day.

“Voters have to understand the desperate need for leadership right now in Springfield,” said Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady. “Pat Quinn has shown he is incapable of turning our state around and that we’ll simply get higher taxes and more borrowing under another four years of Quinn. That’s just unacceptable.”

The web site will put the spotlight on Quinn’s mistakes, flip-flops, bungling and overall poor management of the state along with his pledge to raise the state income tax. “We also want to make it clear that Pat Quinn was Rod Blagojevich’s running mate, not once but twice and never spoke out against him. In fact, he said just the opposite,” Brady continued. The governor’s office and both houses of the Legislature are controlled by the Democrats.

The new web site can be viewed at DismissQuinn.com. Visitors will be able to sign up for regular email updates and other announcements.

Chicago, IL - Goodman Theatre announces the 12-member cast for Robert Fall’s intimate new production of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull (rehearsals begin August 24, tickets go on sale August 13*). This 19^th century masterpiece is brought to life by a company including Francis Guinan (August: Osage County; The Grapes of Wrath) in his Goodman debut as the retired judge Peter Sorin and Mary Beth Fisher (Rock ’N’ Roll; The Year of Magical Thinking) as his sister, Irina Arkadina, a beautiful, selfish actress. Also joining the cast are Janet Ulrich Brooks (Polina); Rebecca Buller (Maid); Cliff Chamberlain (Boris Trigorin, Irina’s young lover), Dietrich Gray (Yakov); Stephen Louis Grush (Konstantin Trepliov, Irina’s twenty-five year old playwright son); Scott Jaeck (Dr. Eugene Dorn); Kelly O’Sullivan (Masha); Steve Pickering (Ilia Shamrayev, Sorin’s estate manager); Demetrios Troy (Simon Medvendenko); and Heather Wood (Nina Zarietchnaya). The Seagull runs October 16 – November 14, 2010 in the Owen Theatre; tickets are $10 – $45. Kirkland & Ellis LLP is the Contributing Sponsor of The Seagull.

Artistic Director Robert Falls returns to the work of Anton Chekhov following previous productions of Three Sisters at the Goodman (1995, with a cast including Calista Flockhart, Susan Bruce and Jenny Bacon) and Orchards: Seven American Playwrights Present Stories by Chekhov (1986, adaptations by Maria Irene Fornes, Spalding Gray, John Guare, David Mamet, Wendy Wasserstein, Michael Weller and Samm-Art Williams—The Acting Company/New York, tour with off-Broadway opening).

“The Seagull was the first Chekhov play I ever read, and it’s a play I’ve grown up with,” said Falls, whose recent travels to Russia helped gain insight into his process for approaching this production. “At 17 or 18, I identified completely with Konstantin, the tragic artist of the play; in my 30s, I more fully understood Trigorin; now in my 50s, it’s Dr. Dorn and Sorin. I’m thrilled to direct this masterwork about art and how one approaches art.”

When famed actress Irina Arkadina and her young lover, Trigorin, visit her family’s estate, they become ensnared in a tragicomic tangle of romance, intrigue and unrequited love. As Arkadina’s son, Konstantin, struggles with the complexities of love and life, he masks his angst by creating manuscripts performed by Nina—with whom he is in love, but does not share his feeling. Through passion and art, The Seagull uncovers the raw emotion and obscurity of a family struggling to find themselves.  

*Individual tickets for The Seagull and Candide go on sale August 13, but Subscriptions to the 2010/2011 season are on sale now. Subscribers save up to 45% over single ticket prices: 312.443.3800 or ExploreTheGoodman.org. Five-play Albert Theatre subscriptions start at $100 and 3-play Owen Theatre subscriptions start at $57. A Platinum Subscription of all eight plays starts at $157.

Playwright Anton Chekhov (January 29, 1860–July 15, 1904) practiced medicine throughout his adult life, but his work as a short story writer and dramatist proved more lucrative and enduring. Born in Taganrog, Russia, in 1860, Chekhov began his literary career as a freelance journalist, publishing humorous sketches of contemporary life. In 1887 he won the prestigious Pushkin Prize for At Dusk, a collection of short stories. Success as a playwright eluded him, however, and the 1897 premiere of The Seagull flopped. It was remounted in 1898 at the innovative Moscow Art Theatre, where director Konstantin Stanislavsky’s attention to the psychological realism of Chekhov’s text made the play a critical and popular success. Over the next few years, the Moscow Art Theatre produced Chekhov’s other major plays, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard.

Starting in September, Goodman Theatre celebrates a decade of achievement as an anchor of Chicago’s Theatre District. Two million tickets sold + 21,500 students served through Education and Community Engagement + 3,000 artists and theater professionals employed + 90 awards + nearly 30 world-premiere productions (including 25 new-work commissions) + 10 Festivals + one Pulitzer Prize = Goodman Theatre, “the leading repertory theater in the nation’s most important theater city” (Time). These achievements and more define the past 10 years (of its 85 years as Chicago’s oldest and largest not-for-profit producing theater) of the Goodman in its new home at 170 N. Dearborn in Chicago’s Theatre District—established by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Robert Falls, “Chicago’s most essential director” (Chicago Tribune), and Executive Director Roche Schulfer, the Goodman’s state-of-the-art, two-theater complex has led to record growth in all areas of the theater—generating more than $60 million in ticket revenue from hundreds of productions and programs, an 80% increase in operating budget since 2000, and the ability to serve 30% more students in Education and Community Engagement.