* If you’re heading for the hearing today on the Thomson prison sale, expect to be subjected to Illinois State Police “security” precautions…

* Backpacks or extra large hand bags will not be allowed into the auditorium.
* All purses and hand bags will be searched before entering the auditorium.
* Every person entering the auditorium will pass through a metal detector.
* No posters, signs or visual aids will be allowed into the auditorium.
* No type of voice amplification device will be allowed into the auditorium.

Are they afraid of terrorists or a planned protest by “tea party” types? My guess is it ain’t the terrorists.

* Oopsie…

State Rep. Monique Davis (D-Chicago) has been occupying a rent-free Chicago Board of Education building for seven years and owes more than $500,000 in rent, leaseholder taxes and penalties on it, a new report by the schools inspector general indicated Monday. […]

The Board of Ed sent Davis a letter in 2002 saying it expected her to vacate the building by July 1, 2002, Sullivan said Monday. It followed up with more correspondence in August 2006, September 2007, and April and September of 2008, he said. On Nov. 18, it finally filed a legal claim for back rent and eviction.

After her lease expired in 2002, Davis said, she asked then-School Board President Michael Scott to sign a new lease and he said, ” ‘I’ll get back to you.’ . . . The indication was ‘I’ll get this done for you.’ ‘’ Davis said she needed a signed lease so she could submit it to the state and get reimbursed for the cost of operating a district office.

Finally, Davis said, board officials produced a lease this year, but in it they wanted Davis to be responsible for all repairs to the building, as well as property taxes.

* This story has been getting a lot of play on the blogs. Here’s Fox Chicago’s take…

Jim Madigan is running for state senate, and about 40 supporters were attending a fundraiser at a North Side gay bar when Leo Smith made a surprise appearance.

“And as I looked, ‘I thought God, that looks like my opponent’s husband,’” Madigan said. “He looked a little disheveled. He took awhile to put sentences together, so that was a little bizarre.”

Madigan said Smith sat quietly at the bar for about an hour… went into the men’s room… and then charged out with fire in his eyes and began bullying him.

“And he said, ‘Well I’m Heather’s husband.’ And I said, ‘I know, thanks for coming to my event.’ And he said, ‘I’m not here to support your event. I know you think you’re going to get famous with all your bull____,’” Madigan recalled.

Oof.

* Cook County President candidate Dorothy Brown has denied Sneed’s report about a grand jury investigation into her campaign operation…

Dorothy Brown took to the airwaves [last night] to rebut reports of a grand jury investigation into the petitions she filed to run for Cook County Board president.

Appearing on WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight”, Brown said information received by her campaign [yesterday] indicated there was no grand jury probe. She called the rumored investigation a “political placement.”

Stay tuned.

* An endorsement from the pro-choice Personal PAC will bring a few bucks, and it may get some media attention, since the Republican Schillerstrom trumpeted the nod in a press release…

Republican Bob Schillerstrom on Monday welcomed the endorsement of Personal PAC, a bi-partisan organization dedicated to electing pro-choice state and local leaders in Illinois.

Schillerstrom noted the support distinguishes him as the only moderate Republican running for Governor, and positions him as a centrist with the best chance of winning the General Election.

“My top priorities as Governor will be to end runaway spending, create an environment for good jobs, and make government more transparent and accountable,” Schillerstrom said. “Those are the most pressing matters facing our state and should be the primary focus of this campaign.”

Apparently, Schillerstrom was the only Republican candidate to return Personal PAC’s questionnaire.

Personal PAC backed Republican George Ryan in 1998. Republican Jim Edgar was endorsed by NARAL in his first bid for governor in 1990. Schillerstrom is just so unknown and so far behind the pack that this probably won’t make much of a difference.

The oddity here is that the campaign sent the press release to the very conservative Illinois Review site, which published it. Oops.

Personal PAC also endorsed Gov. Quinn…

Terry Cosgrove, the president and CEO of the group, said Quinn got the backing over Democratic primary rival Dan Hynes because the organization has a policy of “sticking with the incumbent when he’s been 100 percent pro-choice.”

“Had this been an open race,” Cosgrove said, “the results could have been different.” In 2002, the organization endorsed all three Democrats in the open-seat race for governor. Quinn became the unelected incumbent governor last January when the Senate ousted former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

* Twice in the past week, state legislators have accidentally published single character posts to their Facebook accounts. Rep. David Miller, a candidate for state comptroller, pocket-posted “$” the other day. Sen. Emil Jones, III posted “p.” Both claimed later on their FB pages that their smart phones were in their pockets at the time. I’ve heard of pocket dialing, but this pocket FB posting is a new one on me.

Let’s be careful out there. And lock your smart phones, for crying out loud.

* As you already know, Dock Walls has dropped out of the Democratic gubernatorial primary after his petitions were challenged by allies of Gov. Pat Quinn. Illinois Public Radio reports that Walls is now considering a run as an independent…

Walls said he [dropped out] so he could run as an independent instead.

“I realized I’m not going after the ward organizations, and the Democratic party organizations, because I represent a clean break from the past,” Walls said. “And I can’t align myself with people who are part and parcel of the problem: people who are taking money from special interest groups and big business.”

Yeah, that’s why he dropped out. It had nothing to do with his petitions at all.

* Andy McKenna’s Republican gubernatorial campaign is running Google ads on videos. That can be a pretty random thing. A reader noticed yesterday that a “Very important message from Lady Gaga” was preceded by a McKenna ad. Have a look for yourself.

* Last year, Speaker Madigan provided some late financing to House GOP Leader Tom Cross’ Democratic opponent. Madigan isn’t taking any chances that Cross might fight back in next year’s campaign. Madigan has apparently found his own Republican opponent…

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, the Illinois GOP has launched a public hunt for one Patrick John Ryan, who has filed as a Republican to run against Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan next year.

In a press release Monday entitled “Has anyone seen Patrick John Ryan?” the GOP notes that though Mr. Ryan filed as a Republican, he lives in Mr. Madigan’s home 13th Ward and pulled a Democratic ballot in the past three primary elections.

Yet, the release adds, Mr. Ryan “is now a Republican who believes in less government, lower taxes, true ethics reform and the need to end business as usual” in Illinois.

Given all of that, “Will Patrick John Ryan call (312) 201-9000 to discuss this historic opportunity?” the GOP asks. “We look forward to providing him the necessary support to win this election.”

* A candidate for the Illinois House is continuing a personal tradition that’s now landed him in a spot of trouble…

Politician Will McGaughy says he’s been mailing envelopes to voters in his precinct at Christmastime for 30 years, wishing them holiday cheer and including a crisp $2 bill as a “keepsake.”

The 76-year-old said it’s a political style he has developed since the 1960s, when he marched with Martin Luther King in the civil rights struggles in Alabama. […]

McGaughy’s own campaign manager, Matt Hawkins, 42, said he advised his candidate not to send the $2 bills, but he doesn’t believe any law has been broken.

“He has skirted most of, if not all of the legal issues,” Hawkins said. “I questioned it myself, but it’s the battle of old (political style) versus new.”

* Related…

* Legislators must tinker with recently changed window tinting law