* When you used to work for Rod Blagojevich, and you’re now running statewide, it’s probably best to make extra sure you file your ethics forms…

CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery on Thursday talked with Democrat Cheryle Jackson, who completely missed a deadline several months ago to provide a list of her assets and potential conflicts of interest to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics

Another Democrat, Jacob Meister, also did not submit the form. But he requested – and received – an extension. A spokeswoman for the Ethics Committee told CBS 2 they received nothing from Jackson. She is now subject to a mandatory fine for filing late, and could face additional penalties.

The report to the Senate Ethics Committee tells voters what assets, such as corporate stock, a candidate owns and what potential conflicts of interest they may have.

Jackson called it “an oversight.” She added that she’s doing a complete review of her involvement with several not-for-profit boards before completing the disclosure.

If Jackson raises the money, I think she has a shot at winning the primary. But she doesn’t need stuff like this coming out. Inexcusable.

She didn’t look all that good when Flannery spoke to her yesterday. Watch it…

* In other news, John Kass, believe it or not, buys into Andy McKenna’s claim that he’s an “outsider”…

To his credit, as state party chairman at the 2008 GOP convention in Decatur, McKenna had angry public words for some of those who helped destroy their party, standing up to former Gov. James Thompson and pension fund insider Bob Kjellander (R-Blagojevich).

“I’ve done what an outsider would do. I made tough decisions as chairman of the party, we took steps on ethics that some insiders disagreed with, and I asked certain people like Kjellander to leave their roles in the party,” McKenna said. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t prepared to go to Springfield and make the necessary decisions.”

An outsider who wants to work in Springfield?

Fascinating.

Yeah. Fascinating.

* I told subscribers about this story today and yesterday. It’s a doozy…

Republican veteran Steve Rauschenberger’s attempt to take back his Elgin-based state Senate seat is under threat because he may not be Republican enough.

In the latest bizarre chapter of Illinois’ thick history of kicking candidates off the ballot, Rauschenberger could lose his spot in the GOP primary because he pulled a Democratic ballot for February’s local elections. […]

Meanwhile, with Rauschenberger’s position for the Feb. 2 in contention, three Republicans filed Thursday as write-in candidates, including Kane County Recorder of Deeds Sandy Wegman.[…]

Elgin Township Clerk Kurt Kojzarek and Elgin attorney Jeff Meyer also filed. Rauschenberger said he encouraged those two candidates to file. If he is scrubbed from the ballot, he could theoretically ask one of them to step aside after the primary so he could be slated.

Go read the whole thing. More here. This is one of the weirdest stories of the election season to date.

*** UPDATE *** Rauschenberger says he’ll run as an independent if necessary…

I am more resolved than ever to defeat Michael Noland in Nov of 2010. I expect to do it as a Republican, but I will run as an Independent if I have to.

[ *** End of Update *** ]

* Any story that quotes Delmarie Cobb as a political prognosticator is not one you should trust all that much, so the Reader’s piece on Alexi Giannoulias would fall into that category…

If [the Giannoulias family bank] were to fail, the federal government would be on the hook to cover much of Broadway’s $1.1 billion in deposits out of money that banks—through fees paid by their customers—contribute to an insurance fund.

And what would happen, some Democrats wonder, if that happened after Giannoulias won the Democratic nomination but before the general election?

“I think we’re going to lose the seat,” says Delmarie Cobb, a political consultant whose clients include Burris (who’s not running to keep the seat). “He needed to spend [more] time in [state] office to let the controversies die down and build a record apart from them.”

First, the banks pay the insurance fees. It’s not a direct customer fee. And while there will be a huge uproar if the bank goes down, I’m not yet convinced it’s a total deal breaker. Giannoulias has lots of problems, as the article makes clear with its rehash of what we knew in 2006, and a bank failure (which is not guaranteed) would certainly contribute to and greatly magnify those problems because it makes it possible to use a new hook to bring up all that old stuff. But I wouldn’t be ready quite yet to say this would make him a sure-fire loser.

Still, the history of the bank most certainly played into the White House’s decision to court Lisa Madigan and others to run for Senate. Giannoulias will have a very rough road ahead if he wins the primary. The ads pretty much write themselves, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet.

* More trouble for Dorothy Brown…

A state EarnFare worker who claims to have collected petition signatures for Clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court Dorothy Brown in her bid for County Board president filed a formal complaint with the state Department of Labor today saying he hadn’t been paid for the work he was coerced into doing, illegal though it might have been.

Barry Johnson of Chicago said he collected 1,000 signatures for Brown and had been promised a dollar a signature by her campaign field director, Hasan Muhammad. Brown publicly ended her association with Muhammad after news broke that he had used state EarnFare workers to collect signatures.

Brown’s campaign spokesman did not reply to requests for a response.

Johnson said about 20 to 25 EarnFare workers collected signatures for Brown and that four or five planned to join him in filing formal complaints with the Department of Labor.

* Related…

* Editorial: Back bid to fix system of drawing districts : The goal is 500,000 signatures by April, enough to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot asking voters if they want to strip from legislators the power to draw legislative districts and give that power to an independent, bipartisan commission. Nine other states already do it this way.

* Reform groups want major change in way state draws legislative districts: House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he expects a proposal out of the Senate committee soon and will consider it. When asked if he thought there was a need for reform, Madigan pointed to political history. “I’ve said for a long time that I think the current system worked real well in the ’90s when the Republicans drew the maps then in the House the Democrats won four out of five elections,” Madigan said.

* Giannoulias, Hoffman air TV ads in Democratic U.S. Senate race

* 3 of 4 Dem candidates for Senate already running TV ads

* Ill. candidates for Obama’s old Senate seat crowd the airwaves

* Blago would take 5th in casino lawsuit: attorney

* Dem retirees present GOP with golden opportunities: Stuart Rothenberg is out with his list of the 12 House seats most likely to switch- 10 of them are Democratic held seats, including Moore’s . One interesting note- in prior lists, Illinois 10, Mark Kirk’s seat, was right near the top , but now it is not among the top 12.

* Democrat drops out of Illinois treasurer’s race

* Candidates for governor should disclose tax info: Does disclosure of tax returns guarantee Illinois won’t see another governor indicted? No. Both George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich made their tax returns public. Nonetheless, such disclosures show a commitment to openness that voters have a right to expect.

* GOP candidate Murphy touts cutbacks to government

* Press release: Gov’s Friday schedule

* Friday Illinois political docket: Quinn talks global warming, Daley education

* Goslin to run unopposed in primary

* State board knocks 8th District candidate off ballot

* 10th District candidates Dan Seals, Julie Hamos differ on war, tax cuts

* Purcell drops out of 14th Congressional District race

* Board keeps Faso on ballot

* Brown stays on ballot in Cook County Board president contest