* The Associated Press takes a look at the dispute over Gov. Rauner’s “off-shoring”…

Amid this summer’s budget impasse, Democratic lawmakers argued that the Republican governor’s administration is squeezing essential state services, particularly by having high-priced consultants’ salaries paid by other agencies. The administration acknowledged that about $3 million in salaries for Rauner’s staff was paid by other agencies and provided lawmakers with lists showing that his Democratic predecessor, Pat Quinn, annually offshored even more — $3.5 million.

Rauner aides, who continue to insist that the office pays less in compensation than Quinn, were not counting key contractual agreements, such as a $250,000 salary for education adviser Beth Purvis paid by the Department of Human Services or a seven-month, $135,000 contract financed by the Department of Revenue for chief financial officer Donna Arduin.

Based on a publicly available online directory of governor’s staff, Rauner is asking other agencies to cover about $4 million — more than Quinn, the AP’s analysis found.

The directory lists about 80 people with contact information. Counting a dozen more staffers provided by the governor’s office and not on the list — such as those staffing the Executive Mansion — annual salaries total $7.8 million. Half of that total comes from at least 18 other agencies, including the Department on Aging, the Illinois State Police, the Capital Development Board and the Department of Natural Resources.

The problem is that the AP is apparently counting people like the director of the budget office as being off-shored, but GOMB has its own staff paid for out of its own approps.

So far, this story is a rabbit hole of little consequence.

…Adding… From an e-mail…

No, Rich, Tim Nuding was not included in the analysis; he and others were removed from the list when the governor’s office reviewed it and discussed with me why they shouldn’t be included. Please correct this supposition on your blog.

Thanks,

John O’Connor