Robin Johnson
Host of Heartland PoliticsRobin A. Johnson is a governmental relations, public policy and political consultant. He is an expert on government reform issues and has consulted with numerous local governments on consolidation/merger, public-private partnerships and full-cost accounting of public services. Robin has also helped candidates win elections for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, state legislature, judiciary and local government. Robin served as a consultant to the Office of Statewide Performance Review in the Illinois Governor’s Office and is former director of the Illinois Center for Competitive Government, a partnership between the Illinois Comptroller’s Office and the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at Western Illinois University. Prior to that, he was Director of the Local Government Affairs Division of the Illinois Comptroller’s Office. Robin served on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP) in 1999-2000.
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Claire Ainsley, Director of the Project on Center-Left Renewal at the Progressive Policy Institute, discusses a new publication she co-authored, Build Back Belief, which focuses on how center-left parties in the West can win back working class voters. -
Paul Glastris, editor of the Washington Monthly, talks about the magazine's criteria for ranking American colleges and universities, how it differs from other ratings including US News, how they rate their "Best Bang for the Buck" colleges to help students and parents examine schools based on marketable degrees at affordable prices, and more. -
Brenden Moore, statehouse reporter for Capitol News Illinois, looks atprospects for action on transit, energy and affordability legislation,as well as potential responses to ICE and National Guard deployments inChicago. -
Chris Cournoyer, former State Senator from eastern Iowa, discusses her tenure as Lt. Governor, how her appointment came about, her focus and responsibilities and her current campaign for State Auditor including the office's fit with her tech background and her priorities for the office. -
Pulitzer-prize winner Art Cullen Laments the Decline of Small Town Iowa in Latest Book -
Adam Jentleson, former top aide to Sens. Harry Reid and John Fetterman, discusses his book Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and Crippling of American Democracy. -
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Jonathan Cohen discusses his book, Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling. -
Stephen Franklin, former labor reporter for the Chicago Tribune, takes alook at the state of American labor this holiday weekend and discusseshis book Three Strikes: Labor's Heartland Losses and What They Mean forWorking Americans. The book examines three labor disputes in oneIllinois town, Decatur, that captured the change in labor-managementrelations. -
Stephen Macedo, co-author with Frances Lee of In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us, discusses the failure to heed pre-Covid plans for managing a pandemic, how voices of dissent were treated, lack of cost and benefit considerations, impact of policies by class difference, school closures, the origins of Covid, and impact on our democracy. An important book written by authors without a political agenda.
