* AP…

Gov. Pat Quinn has suspended funding for future renovations at the Capitol, a pricey project that’s already caused embarrassment for financially-shaky Illinois and raised questions about how it was allowed.

The Chicago Democrat told reporters Tuesday that he’s instructed his budget director to hold up appropriations for renovations that are yet to be done.

The state has already spent much of the appropriated $50 million for the west wing. That restoration of the Capitol has already drawn criticism along with finger-pointing. Sparking the outrage has been copper-plated wooden doors costing nearly $670,000 and more than $323,000 for chandeliers.

Quinn blamed Capitol architect J. Richard Alsop III and says he needs to be “reigned in” by the commission he reports to.

* Sun-Times…

While Quinn’s Capital Development Board released funds for the nearly finished phase of Capitol construction, the governor said the state is on the hook for paying for work already completed since construction contracts have already been signed.

“If there are contractors who’d already completed work, we’d have legal obligations to pay those vouchers, or we’d wind up in the Court of Claims. But anything further or additional or what they’re planning for the next wing, I think, should be totally held up until we get this architect under control,” the governor said.

Controversy over the renovation work bubbled up in August when the Sun-Times detailed the project in a front page story and intensified earlier this month when Alsop confirmed that historically-accurate copper-clad doors for three entrances in the Capitol’s west wing cost more than $669,000 — the same price as a luxury executive home in the northwest suburbs.

On Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times followed up with a report on a pair of maiden sculptures that each cost more than $78,000 and four 300-pound chandeliers hung in one senator’s office that cost another $323,000.

* Tribune…

Quinn’s move is largely symbolic. Most of the $50 million earmarked for rehabilitation work on the west wing of the Statehouse, including sets of copper-plated doors costing nearly $700,000, already has been spent. The governor’s action could prevent shifting other money for planned work on other sections of the building. […]

Quinn maintained that his office does not have the ability to approve or block particular “ingredients” of the renovation. Those decisions, he said, are made by a panel that oversees the Capitol architect, a group appointed by the four Democratic and Republican legislative leaders. Quinn said the group needs to rein in the architect, J. Richard Alsop III. […]

There’s no money set aside for overhauling the Capitol’s north and east wings, but Quinn fears a pot of $250 million involving the Statehouse grounds could be shifted by a panel of lawmakers to finish the project.

So, by reading most of the coverage you’d think all spending was halted. But from the Tribune story, maybe not.

* Quinn made his symbolic move in anticipation of an attack from Bill Daley…

Daley said Quinn should have prevented the expenditure of nearly $670,000 for three sets of copper-plated double doors, $160,000 for sculptures replicating statues that were never in the original capitol building, and $323,000 for four chandeliers.

He said those costs are significant, even if a tiny fraction of the overall cost.

“Some people may scoff at it and say, ‘Well, $700,000 out of $50 million, or whatever the renovation is, big deal.’ You know, the average person says that is a big deal,” Daley said. “And until we’re sensitive to them, we’re just going to roll over and say, ‘Well, what the heck, it’s going to last 100 years these doors, and they’re beautiful, and they’re copper, and how could you be against them?’ That’s crazy.”

Daley said people are just numb to continuing expenditures by government officials spending other people’s money.

Voters can get their minds around $700,000 doors pretty easily, so this was an easy shot by Daley. But Quinn really couldn’t have stopped those doors from being installed.

* Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard, also a gubernatorial candidate, jumped into the fray…

Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard and his running mate State Representative Jil Tracy announced Tuesday they will introduce joint resolutions calling on the Illinois Auditor General to investigate expenditures of the Illinois State Capitol West Wing renovations and whether the expenditures were appropriate. This comes after news reports, including one on WMBD TV and Fox 43 that about $700,000 was spent on three pairs of new doors. Tracy says taxpayers need to know their tax dollars are spent wisely.

* Ironically, Dillard was recently endorsed by former Gov. Jim Thompson, who made it obvious that he doesn’t think much of the political fallout…

“Where were they supposed to buy the doors, and maidens and chandeliers?” he asked. “Walmart, Lowe’s?”

“The Capitol,” he said, “is the most significant building in the state of Illinois. . . . All they’re doing with the doors and the maidens is putting the Capitol back to what it was when it was constructed. . . . These items are part of a $50 million capital expenditure…as part of a health and safety renovation. . . . These are capital funds, not operating funds. They can’t be used for services, for example, for senior citizens or developmentally disabled young people.”

Thompson characterized the six-figure price tags as “not only historically correct,” but also, in the long run, a “bargain,” because “the chandeliers and the maidens and the doors will last over one hundred years.” He added, hyperbolically, “In every other state in the union, [public officials] go to great lengths to retain authenticity.”

I asked him if he was surprised that politicians, including Gov. Pat Quinn and the republican candidate striving to take Quinn’s job, State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, are publicly denouncing the expenditures. “No it’s typical,” he said in a weary tone. “The press writes these stories front page, . . . politicians react. I’ve seen it all before.”