
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.
-
Democratic State Senator Mike Zimmer, newly elected from Iowa's 35th District, which includes Clinton and parts of Jackson and Scott Counties, discusses his campaign that attracted national attention, the keys to his success in a district where Trump won with 61%, lessons for national Democrats, and his agenda in Des Moines.
-
The Madigan Guilty Verdict: What Happened and What Does it Mean for Illinois Government and PoliticsRay Long, investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, discusses the historic corruption trial of former House Speaker and Democratic Party Chair Michael Madigan.
-
Sonja Trom Eayrs discusses her book Dodge County, Incorporated: Big Ag and the Undoing of Rural America, a story of her family farm's fight against factory farms that changed agriculture and small townsthroughout the US.
-
GovernmentWho was James Jesus Angleton? Why is he important to understanding America in the Cold War era?
-
Mike Thomas, co-author with the late Bill Zehme of a new biography of Johnny Carson called Carson the Magnificent.
-
Sarah Vogel discusses her recent book The Farmer's Lawyer: The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm.
-
Paul Collier, renowned development economist and author of Left Behind:A New Economics for Neglected Places
-
Campaigns & ElectionsJonathan Weisman, an economics and labor policy reporter for the NewYork Times, discusses a recent article he wrote on how the slippage ofworking class support for Democrats predated Trump
-
GovernmentBrian Reisinger talks about his book, Land Rich, Cash Poor: My Family's Hope and the Untold History of the Disappearing American Farmer.
-
GovernmentRuth Harkin discusses her new book, When My Husband Ran for President and Other Short Stories