Illinois voters certainly sent mixed signals yesterday.

Our state joined the national wave of disenchantment with the Obama agenda by dumping congressional Democrats and defeating a Democrat for the Senate seat held previously by the president. But unlike a lot of states where Republicans took over legislatures and governors’ mansions, Illinois Democrats maintained much of their control over state and county government. That raises a lot of questions about what yesterday meant and where we go from here:

The BGA will be paying close attention to these issues in the post-election days and weeks ahead. And we will have a new set of questions for the mayoral and aldermanic candidates running in Chicago’s 2011 municipal elections. Where do they stand on TIFs? Privatization? Police and fire department manpower and deployment? Streamlining and reorganizing city services? Reducing waste, fraud and corruption? Following the Shakman decree in practice, not just in theory? And what’s their take on IG Joe Ferguson’s alternate budget?

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