* Dear Sen. Dick Durbin,

I asked your staff earlier this week for comment on a Sneed item…

Making an exit? U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin telling pals he might retire in two years.

So far, I’ve heard nothing back. I guess it’s time to start up the speculation machine before somebody else beats me to it. Oh, wait. Nevermind.

*** UPDATE *** OK, I finally heard back. Here’s the response…

Rich – Senator Durbin has answered this question a number of times in the last few months and his answer hasn’t changed:

Press Conference – 1.3.12:

“My political future? I am exactly halfway through my term. So I have three years before I would be standing for reelection. I have not made any decision on this. If you ask me today, I’d say I’m announcing for reelection. But, at some point I will sit down with my highest counsel of advisors in my life, which would be my wife, and we will make a decision. But I enjoy the job and hope to continue doing it for a long, long time.”

Chicago Tonight – 10.10.11:

Q: Got to talk a little politics here. So, Senator Durbin, I’ve been hearing that in 2014, you’re not going to run again.

Durbin: Well, that’s just plain wrong.

Q: Is it?

Durbin: Where have you been hearing that Carol?

Q: You know, I’ll go back to those people and tell them that.

We’re two-and-half years away from the 2014 election and have five months left in the current campaign. One election at a time.

[ *** End Of Update *** ]

* Dear congressional candidate Jason Plummer,

You said this to the Post-Dispatch about yesterday’s US Supreme Court opinion on Obamacare…

“I didn’t argue it was unconstitutional, I argued it was poor public policy,” he said.

OK. Great. But check out this passage from your press release yesterday…

“The Court’s ruling that the individual mandate is unconstitutional and a tax goes against everything the President and his allies said as they were trying to pass the law, and puts an increased burden on working families. [Emphasis added.]

Your statement was e-mailed about two hours after the Supreme Court issued its opinion. There was plenty of time to check your work, dude. Try harder, please.

* Dear Sen. Gary Forby,

Do you still want to throw Chicago into the lake along with Gov. Pat Quinn?…

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has approved a measure to help southern Illinois tornado victims rebuild their homes.

The Democrat signed a law Friday that creates a property tax exemption. It is equal to the difference in property values between a resident’s new home and the one destroyed by a Feb. 29 tornado in the Harrisburg area or another natural disaster.

Two main rules apply. The home must be rebuilt within two years of the destruction and the new residence must not be more than 110 percent of the previous home’s square footage.

The legislation was sponsored by two Democrats - Rep. Brandon Phelps of Harrisburg and Sen. Gary Forby of Benton.

Shockingly enough, there was no joint press conference yesterday.

* Dear Sen. Gary Forby,

While this could be more great fodder for your tough reelection bid, do you really want the General Assembly to have the right to force the state’s chief executive to spend money?…

State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, said he’s prepared to resubmit a bill limiting the state’s chief executive’s ability to close facilities if Gov. Pat Quinn shutters Tamms Correctional Facility as expected on Aug. 31.

Quinn has statutory authority to close state-run facilities even if the General Assembly’s bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability recommends facilities stay open, as was the case with Tamms and Murphysboro’s Illinois Youth Center.

Forby’s bill would have given the House and Senate the power to accept or reject COGFA’s recommendation. Under Forby’s proposed legislation, Quinn would not have been able to overturn the General Assembly’s decision.

Forby said to expect the bill to reappear in November if Quinn shutters Tamms, the state’s only supermax prison.

Also, sorry about the multiple submissions.

* Dear Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady,

Do you really think that President Obama was “trained” by Speaker Madigan? From a press release you issued yesterday…

When Barack Obama ran for President, he promised no tax increases on the middle class. But the only way he could convince the Supreme Court to approve ObamaCare was to call it a new “tax.” Promise made – Promise Broken.

This comes as no surprise since Barack Obama spent his formative political years in Springfield being trained by Illinois Democrats like Mike Madigan, who through years of mismanagement, have led Illinois to having the worst budget deficit, credit rating, pension debt and business climate in the nation – and last year a 67% Tax Hike in the middle of the night on the last day of a lame duck session of the state legislature after many of his party members promised to oppose any such tax hike. Promise Made – Promise Broken.

Be careful what you wish for, dude. One day, the media may actually start including some of your goofier press release claims in its reporting.

* Dear Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.,

When you finally finish recuperating from “exhaustion,” here’s another question you should probably answer…

The timing of Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s announcement on Monday that he had begun a medical leave of absence two weeks earlier has taken on new significance.

Frank Watkins, his Washington spokesman, said the news was released just before 5 p.m. Central Time on Monday. Five p.m. that day was the deadline for independent candidates to file nomination papers with the State Board of Elections for a spot on the ballot for the November election for the seat, said Rupert Borgsmiller, the board’s executive director.

Candidates typically bring their papers to the office, or have a representative do that, because they must be time-stamped by the 5 p.m. deadline, Borgsmiller said.

Watkins, in an interview, insisted there was no link between the delay in making the news public and the filing deadline. “That was not a factor at all,” he said.

An immediate disclosure of a leave of absence for “exhaustion” could’ve brought a major challenger out of the woodwork. Probably not, but whatever. I really doubt you wanted to take that chance.

* Dear Gov. Pat Quinn,

I understand your desire to deinstitutionalize the developmentally disabled. But could you please do something about easing the anxiety of the parents involved? C’mon, man. Get in the game here…

During hearings last spring, administration officials pledged that a transition plan would be individually tailored for each resident.

But Robyn Pannier, whose son lives at JDC, said no such plan has been developed for her son. She attended a meeting with Department of Human Services staff and representatives of a contractor hired by the state to develop the transition plans. Pannier said she asked questions about how her son’s medications would be administered in a community setting and about security.

“They haven’t come back to us with any answers,” she said.

“That’s why these families are here, because they kind of feel like they’re sitting out in the wind and nobody is helping them,” Watson said.

…Adding… Dear Chicago Tribune editorial Board,

Practically begging Standard and Poor’s to lower Illinois’ credit rating before the November election is a bit much. Even for y’all.

* Your turn…