* Over a week ago, Gov. Pat Quinn said he believed he had “three or four” Republican votes to pass the pension borrowing plan in the Senate. As you know already, the House passed the bill last month with two GOP votes, but it stalled in the Senate when two Dems expressed opposition.

A couple of days later, Quinn said that Senate President Cullerton had enough Democratic votes to pass the borrowing bill on his own. Cullerton has 37 Democrats and the bill requires a super-majority of 36. Cullerton’s office said Quinn was dreaming.

Yesterday, Quinn again said he believed the Senate had enough votes to pass the borrowing bill and said the chamber would return at the end of this month…

“They want to do it on the last day of the month, so be it.”

Trouble is, the Senate has no plans to return at the end of this month because the votes are still not there…

But a spokeswoman for the Senate President says there’s no plan to make lawmakers return to the capitol.

I’m getting whiplash from all this back and forth.

* And this sort of inflammatory, Blagojevich-like language won’t help his cause with the Senate President…

“They have to get their vacations and all this and that in order. But I expect them by the end of the month to come together. I mean this is what government is about. If you get sworn into office to protect the common good and carry out the public interest, then you have to be there when it counts.”

Like Blagojevich before him, Quinn is trying to deflect his problems onto the General Assembly. And like Blagojevich, Quinn may not fully realize that the governor always wears the jacket…

The executive director of the Elgin-based Community Crisis Center would rather help victims of domestic abuse than side with a party or endorse a specific agenda.

But Tuesday, crisis center supporters unfurled a large banner saying that the state owes the center $327,928 and people should call Gov. Pat Quinn’s office at (800) 642-3112 to protest.

It was a last resort move by Vapnar who, like many social service agency heads, has been pushed to the brink by the state budget mess.

“It’s like dominoes,” she said. “If one of us goes down, all of us are affected.”

Fair or not, the buck stops at the governor’s desk. And that goes for school funding as well…

Faced with a deficit projected to be at least $427 million, Board of Education members gave unanimous approval at an emergency meeting on Tuesday to resolutions that will allow CEO Ron Huberman to raise class sizes to 35 students and still pay teacher raises promised in the union contract. […]

Huberman stressed that he doesn’t know exactly how much he will have to cut because Gov. Pat Quinn has yet to sign the state budget. Also, the Legislature gave Quinn the power to make changes in the budget.

“This could be good for us or not so good,” Huberman said. Quinn could decide to keep education funding level, which would reduce CPS’ budget gap by $127 million, or make cuts.

Another big question mark is whether and when the state will pay out what it already owes CPS for this year. That amount now stands at more than $400 million, prompting Huberman to ask the board for the power to borrow $800 million. He explained it as a short-term loan that the district will pay back as soon as they get the money from the state.

* Related…

* Teachers to picket School Board vote

* CPS and Unions Face Off in Budget Showdown

Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman and the city’s teachers union are in a tug of war over how to close an estimated $427 million deficit.

* Chicago School Board opens door to 35 in a class

* Huberman gets authority to lay off teachers, boost class sizes

* Chicago teachers must give up 4% wage hike

* Illinois is broke. Who’s gonna fix it?

* Pension crisis scares off businesses: group

* Village still reaping tax revenue for residents who left: A new state law could determine how much shared tax revenue the new village of Campton Hills is entitled to collect from the state. The county says it’s collecting part of the county’s share.

* Illinois applies for high-speed rail funding

* State DNA database is more than 20,000 samples behind