· Apparently, the Illinois Republican Party has been in a running dispute with its webmaster Jake Parillo and hasn’t paid its bills. So, yesterday afternoon Jake pulled the party’s site offline. UPDATE: Not long after this post appeared, the IL GOP and Jake worked out their differences. The link now works.

· As the Tribune correctly notes, this Stu Levine flipping story has been one of the hottest political rumors of the summer.

Republican insider Stuart Levine, indicted for alleged corruption at two state boards, is cooperating with the federal investigation of state government, sources familiar with the case said Friday. […]

Despite Levine’s long-standing Republican ties, his decision to cooperate with federal prosecutors could have dramatic implications for the Democratic governor, whose administration faces multiple corruption investigations as he seeks re-election on Nov. 7.

Levine was accused a year ago of using his position as trustee on the teachers’ pension board to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from investment firms seeking business with the pension plan.

In September 2005 co-defendant Joseph Cari, a nationally prominent Democratic fundraiser, pleaded guilty to attempted extortion. In his plea agreement, Cari said that Levine told him a prominent government official, cited as “Public Official A,” and the official’s two associates had steered pension fund business to individuals and firms in exchange for campaign donations.

· Charlie Cook turns even more pessimistic about Republican chances nationwide.

Time is running out for Republicans. Unless something dramatic happens before Election Day, Democrats will take control of the House. And the chances that they’ll seize the Senate are rising toward 50-50.

The electoral hurricane bearing down on the GOP looks likely to be a Category 4 or 5, strong enough to destroy at least one of the party’s majorities. The political climate feels much as it did before previous elections that produced sizable upheavals, such as in 1994, when Democrats lost 52 House seats, eight Senate seats, and control of both chambers.

· AFSCME ups the ante in its dispute with Gateway.

About a dozen drug counselors at two Illinois prisons have voted to join a union that is locked in a nearly two-month-old strike at the state’s only prison for drug-addicted inmates, officials said Friday.
The newly organized counselors at Dwight and Vandalia correctional centers are employed by the Chicago-based Gateway Founda-tion, a nonprofit organization whose workers at Sheridan Correctional Center walked out June 6 amid a stalemate in talks for their first union contract.

Gateway workers in Vandalia voted 3-2 Friday to join the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, union officials said. Counselors at Dwight approved the union by an identical vote on Thursday.

· I’ll open comments on Monday.

UPDATE: Comments are now open. I’m running a little late, so have at it.