* After the controversy over Gov. Pat Quinn’s no-layoff agreement with AFSCME around the time that the union endorsed his candidacy, it was probably no surprise that the state’s largest public employee union had given the governor no contributions. But late Friday night, the governor’s campaign disclosed $450,000 from two AFSCME contributions…

Quinn reported an additional $921,000 from various labor unions to his two campaign accounts late last night.

…Adding… Umm…

Governor Quinn has reached a resolution with an association of medical transporters who had threatened to not vote for the governor.

They had said they would withhold their votes unless the state paid them for services rendered.

The Chicago Association of African American Transporters said that shortly before its news conference, the governor’s office promised to pay within 10 days.

Another happy coinkidink, I’m sure.

* Speaking of money, this is not as crazy as it seems…

FOX Chicago News estimates that $61.1 million has been spent so far this year for campaign commercials on television. That’s more than double the $24.1 million candidates and their allies spent on TV in 2008.

“It’s astounding,” said Cynthia Canary, of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. “I knew it was up this year, but I had no idea it was that much more.”

Actually, the comparison is not all that “astounding.” Two years ago, Illinois had no truly contested statewide races. The only statewide campaign was US Senate, and Dick Durbin’s opponent was less than inspiring, to say the least. This year, we had hotly contested primaries in both parties for US Senate and governor, plus a big-money primary for Cook County Board President. This fall, we have the top two statewide races, plus the assessor’s race, plus all those contested congressional races. So, yeah, spending is far outpacing 2008. The only real suprise is that spending was that high two years ago.