* My Sun-Times column this week is ultimately about the governor’s involvement in the House’s gun control debate, but this is how it begins…

Gov. Rod Blagojevich playfully told me in April that he had come up with a theme for his epic battle with Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. At the time, Madigan was blocking the governor’s (now dead) gross receipts tax on business and didn’t seem thrilled with Blagojevich’s desire to spend billions on a universal health insurance plan.

The governor said he had cast himself in the role of Robin Hood. Madigan, of course, was the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham.

“Wonderful,” I thought. “This legislative session will never end.”

And here we are, more than three months later, stuck in a nasty overtime session that has Blagojevich repeatedly slamming Madigan as a “right-wing Republican” and threatening to take him to court over the speaker’s refusal to obey the starting times in the governor’s special session proclamations. Two legislators have publicly called for the governor’s impeachment, a Downstate newspaper has claimed that Blagojevich is “going bonkers,” and one of Blagojevich’s fellow Chicago Democrats told reporters that the governor is a “madman” and “insane.”

And that’s just in the past week.

* Via IlliniPundit, Democratic state Sen. Michael Frerichs had some keen insights into what’s going on in his caucus…

“The Governor put out this big legislative proposal that has next to no legislative support, but he continues to hold on and say, ‘Hey, we can all go home as soon as you vote for my budget,’” Frerichs said. “It’s clear that that’s his tactic: to keep us away from our families and our other jobs, for those who have other jobs, until we’re sick and tired and we’re willing to cave in.” […]

If anyone breaks the budget logjam, Frerichs said, it will have to be Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago.

“I think it’s up to the Senate president to say, ‘I’ve hung with you, but it hasn’t gotten us anywhere. My members have these priorities - education funding, proper funding of pensions, property tax relief - and if you’re not willing to get those, then I’ll go work with the speaker and we’ll override your veto.’

“If that happens, then the governor really becomes irrelevant. If you can get those four legislative leaders to get together, it will make the next three years very interesting.”

He said the Senate Democrats have urged Jones to break with Blagojevich, “but the whole caucus has not spoken with any unanimity yet.”

* But Andy Shaw made a good point in a story he filed yesterday…

The irony here is that Blagojevich’s ambitious plans, and his style, go over well with regular people, but not the politicians in Springfield that he needs to get along with the pass a budget. The governor says he is willing to compromise and wait a year to implement his programs if that makes it easier on lawmakers. But a spokesman for Speaker Madigan says that doesn’t make any sense either because the same people still have to cast the same votes.

* The Bloomington Pantagraph published yet another negative editorial on Blagojevich…

He told the Associated Press that the current situation is “totally what I envisioned was going to happen in January, February and March” and things may get more publicly testy “as the days and weeks unfold.”

Weeks? May we remind the governor that the current 30-day budget extension only has about a couple of weeks left?

Oh yeah, we forgot, the governor who “envisioned” as long ago as January that the current situation would exist said he hasn’t “thought that far ahead” when asked if he would go along with another 30-day extension.

Illinois needs and deserves better leadership than it is getting. Lawmakers of both parties must fill the void left by the governor.

* And the AP looks at the pros and cons of the massive legislative meetings that were held at the governor’s mansion the past several days…

Sen. Terry Link, a top lieutenant to Senate President Emil Jones, said House members seem to be learning basic information that senators have already gotten from their leaders.

“It seems over there that these House members have been asking questions that basically I think could be read in newspapers almost,” said Link, D-Vernon Hills. “For a learning curve for them, it’s good.”

Madigan, who along with Republicans have opposed Blagojevich’s spending plans, said Monday he considered the legislator meetings “very productive.”

“They can see that these positions being advanced by the administration are not consistent with reality,” Madigan said.

Blagojevich counters that it gives House Democrats a chance to see the “right-wing Republican” views being advocated by Madigan, who opposes the governor’s call for a major new health care program.