* The quote of the day goes to Sen. Susan Garrett, who said this during a press conference…

“We weren’t sent to jail. The governor was sent to jail. It is ironic that the focus is on [the] legislature when the wrongdoing was occurring at a much higher level.”

* Reform commission chairman Patrick Collins, who will be in Springfield again today, has another op-ed…

Will this session be the one where we charted a definitive new course and returned to our proud roots as the Land of Lincoln - or did we squander the opportunity and thereby remain fodder for Saturday Night Live’s next popular skit?

SNL often spoofs appointed US Sen. Roland Burris, but the reform commission never recommended taking away the governor’s power to appoint Senate replacements. In fact, the commission’s final report only mentioned special elections in passing…

The costs of maintaining the status quo, with its concurrent
public corruption trials, special elections and inflated procurement costs…

We had a governor who thoroughly abused almost all of his powers and was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on his home. Yet, while proposing many laudable reforms, the reform commission left this one blank.

* The reform commission also didn’t get behind the recall idea, but a proposal is advancing in the House…

The legislature continues to advance measures that would try to prevent the alleged wrongdoing by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich from going on long enough for a federal indictment to intervene.

Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat and longtime Blagojevich critic, revived his effort to change the state Constitution so voters could “recall” elected officials. The effort failed last year. This time, however, he’s calling for a constitutional amendment that would only focus on allowing voters to recall the governor, not other statewide officeholders or legislators.

That proposal is part of a broader deal on reforms cut by the Democratic leaders and the governor…

A public TV program called Illinois Lawmakers reported that Madigan said he and Senate President John Cullerton have come to an agreement on capping the amount of money political parties can transfer to candidates’ campaign committees. Both leaders have withheld their support of the idea in the past.

“We are moving in the right direction.” Madigan said. “There should be caps on contributions. There should be caps on transfers between committees.”

Those transfer caps have been a major sticking point, but the caps aren’t real. Subscribe to find out why, or just wait.

* Meanwhile, a FOIA deal was reached with the attorney general and the Illinois Press Association. Here’s a roundup…

* State ethics efforts continue with public records push

* Illinois open-records bill passed by House: The attorney general’s office and a newspaper trade group said they grudgingly went along with a provision that would exempt state lawmakers from most of the enforcement provisions.

* State House passes revamped Freedom of Information Act

* House favors new rewrite of open government law

* Almost there

* Opinion…

* Three days left…and still no real reform: Since then, the governor has spent more time talking about recall as a reform proposal — something his own commission didn’t endorse — than he has spent talking about campaign contribution limits in Illinois.

* Why isn’t Quinn fighting as ethics reforms die?: Call us cynics, but it looks like no matter what the commission recommends, it gets the bum’s rush.

* Call, write, vote: But, above all, finish the job

* SJ-R: Quinn has no margin for error on ethics

* Illinois lawmakers must put up or shut up

* The Illinois Reform Commission heads to Springfield on Thursday to face lawmakers. They need to hear from you. Here are their local offices and Springfield phone numbers.