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* UPDATED w/ videos * End of session live blog

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Illinois

* Statehouse types are loving this feature, so let’s keep it going for another day…

…Adding… If you want to turn off the sound, click the “gear” button and you’ll see these options…

* Rep. Tim Schmitz “wins” the “coveted” Century Club Award…

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 12:26 pm

Comments

I can’t believe the “father” of the Citizens Utility Board is going to sign off on the Com Ed bill without an amendatory veto at least. It would go against everything Quinn has claimed to stand for. Sign this bill, jedi, and your conversion to the Dark Side will be complete…

Comment by Gregor Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 12:47 pm
Gregor, he’s said he will veto the bill.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 12:51 pm
Would people referring to bills please use the bill’s number?

Comment by Cal Skinner Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 1:00 pm
Sweet irony. Two incompetents, Blago and the GA, in the same post.

Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 1:17 pm
Rich, are we getting “blast” postings on this thing, or are these comments directly intended for your blog site?

Comment by steve schnorf Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 1:35 pm
schnorf, some tweeters are using the #twill hashtag to send messages to followers. I’m deleting most of them.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 1:39 pm
Dillard is just plain wrong. Voters put the Dems in complete control of remap. Deal with it.

Comment by just sayin' Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 1:50 pm
The Senate live feed has gone down. They must actually be considering something meaningful and controversial now.

Comment by Quinn T. Sential Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 1:55 pm
Raoul says the 24 hour window to view congressional map is the greatest opportunity IL citizens have had to view map historically #twill

Am I the only one who finds this more than a little bit sad.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 1:57 pm
Rich:

Any chance you can set up one of these for the Rod trial, as you did last week? Thanks

Comment by Rarely Posts Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:03 pm
RR, I can only do one of these at a time. Sorry. I’ve set it to auto-include Tweets from one reporter at the trial, just to keep us up to date on anything big.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:06 pm
QTS:

Neither the House nor Senate feeds are working for me currently.

Comment by Obamarama Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:14 pm
@jsut sayin, how ever you want to rationalize it, the map-making process in IL is not representative government. It is party representative. I would be saying this if the Repubs had the map-making pen. It’s just another shameful aspect of Illiois politics.

Comment by Bitterman Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:14 pm
An FYI for everyone. If you refresh the page, the sound comes back, so less obsessive comment checking will result in more audio piece from the dreaded “flick.”

Comment by Tom B. Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:17 pm
@Bitterman -

I doubt 40% of the public in Illinois can even name their Congressional representative…and you wish they were MORE involved in drawing the map?

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:18 pm
Tom B., you could also just turn off your computer’s sound. That way, you could continue your obsession with comments. Just sayin…

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:19 pm
Senate GOP goes to caucus and Brady Tweets about the Bears. Must be a real important meeting Bill so pay attention or we take your toys away.

Comment by Nearly Normal Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 2:29 pm
“Frerichs’ bill to block changes to group health insurance contracts passes both chambers, moves to Governor.”

How does Quinn square this circle on his proposal?

Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 3:33 pm
Thanks for the feed! Count me with Tom B. on the “obsessive comment checking”.

btw, What’s Lang’s connection to the gambling proposals (for what feels like year after year)?

Are those big donors to him? Is he the point man for the downtown casino supporters? A personal belief that will help address the budget problems? Some combination?

Just don’t get it and wondered that for years.

Comment by Tamale Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 4:25 pm
Re: Rod’s trial,

Sure seems like the defense is saying that appointing Lisa Madigan to the Senate in exchange for Mike Madigan’s support for Rod’s legislative package is a not so subtle attempt by Rod to smear Mike.

In other words, Rod would consider a quid pro quo for his legislation (capital, healthcare, no taxes), by appointing Lisa. This implies that Mike would foresake his principles simply to get Lisa in the Senate. It’s still pay-to-play on somebody’s part, and Rod is essentially saying that it was Madigan, not him. All Rod wanted was to “help people.” And the only thing Madigan cared about was advancing his daughter’s political career.

Will the prosecution call Mike Madigan to ask what he might think of this theory? Would the Speaker ever consider abandoning his principles to benefit his daughter? This is getting interesting, but I think Rod has played with too much rope, and it will soon be around his neck.

Also of note: if everything was on the up-and-up in Rodworld, why would Rod be “frightened” to learn that Wyma was cooperating?

PS: Rich, thanks for keeping the trial feed up during the floor debate and kudos to msjournalist for the updates.

Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 5:26 pm
Will Quinn hold up gaming bill to get his borrowing plan?

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 5:40 pm
Rod’s testimony: the midwestern Shaharazad? They can’t put you away, until you finish testifying…?

Blao’s lawyers complaining the prosecution are “making faces” during Rod’s testimony. I would pay SO much money for pay-per-view of this trial…..

Comment by Newsclown Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 6:49 pm
The wild child Jacobs took a swing at McCarter in the Senate after the rate bill vote.

Comment by Old Milwaukee Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 7:26 pm
@Old M–Is that a real swing or a swing as an insult swing?

Comment by Miss Marie Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 7:44 pm
@Old M–Is that a real swing or a swing as an insult swing?

Comment by Miss Marie Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 7:44 pm
A real swing, with contact in the shoulder.

Comment by Old Milwaukee Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 7:51 pm
@Old M–No way! What happened?!

Comment by Miss Marie Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 7:54 pm
This is one of the least interesting end of sessions in a while. Earthshaking issues have gone down the tubes (pensions) while quasi-issues have passed (gambling) and the big budget number game seems to be grinding to a halt.

The overtime sessions are exhausting but they do bring out the drama. Let’s get this one over with and go have a beer someplace….

Comment by DuPage Dave Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 8:11 pm
Got mad during debate and came over to him after the vote and took a swing, walked away and went out back somewhere.

Comment by Old Milwaukee Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 8:24 pm
Based on Rep Kays testimony, I think its safe to say there will be no GOP votes.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 8:41 pm
I don’t get why Schmitz got so many no votes. The first House vote was 65-48, after a Senate amendment it passsed 56-0. What happened?

Comment by Not a Newcomer Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 8:55 pm
Anyone have video of the Senator who tried take a swing at Sen. McCarter?

Comment by Allen Skillicorn Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 9:47 pm
Let me take this opportunity to point out a flaw with the live blogging. I’m sure if a blow was struck, it’s being well commented on in the live blog. For those of us trying to follow on our phone (or, at least, my Blackberry - maybe I’m doing it wrong), it is not possible to follow what’s happening.

No biggie, just a comment. For those of us who spent a lot of years on GA staff in the past, the end of session is when, hopefully, the whole thing finally climaxes. And we can sleep.

Comment by TwoFeetThick Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 9:55 pm
No video of Quinn on the House floor.
too bad.
Guess we’ll have to resort to the greatest hits of 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/user/capitolfax#p/u/157/WccIVQQ1C4o

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 9:59 pm
thank you kyle hillman — “they are just buttons…red and green sir.”

lol

Comment by anonymous Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 10:01 pm
Yes Dup Dave, quite the boring session.
Chicago casino, balanced budget, workers comp,
yawn …
nothing to see here. keep moving folks.
Just isnt’ the same without a good Blagojevich stawman.
Ahhh, for the great days of the Blago administration. Gettin’ things done, for people.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 10:06 pm
Motion to reconsider on gambling - I like it!

Comment by Linus Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 10:24 pm
A Chicago casino is a bore, as far as I’m concerned. It will only drain money from Joliet and Aurora and Elgin and ultimately not make a positive contribution to the state budget.

True some issue have been processed but they are lacking in any sense of public concern. During the old (ancient) ERA battles there was a huge public concern about how the legislature would vote. Nobody I know outside of state government pays any attention to what goes on now.

It’s true that the Madigan vs. Blago dynamic is missing and therefore there’s a lack of a rooting interest for many people. It was like watching the Red Sox vs the Yankees- even though you don’t like the Red Sox you hate the Yankees and enjoy it when they lose.

Comment by DuPage Dave Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 11:28 pm
What is with the motion to re-consider SB 744 by Cullerton? Is he holding that hostage in exchange for something else?

Comment by Quinn T. Sential Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 11:40 pm
I was on staff for 8 (long) years. I always enjoyed the bustle of the last week, but hated the drain of the last day. Still, kinda miss it.

Comment by It's Just Me Tuesday, May 31, 11 @ 11:41 pm
re:HB2555 The amendment really wasn’t that bad! It’s like the House woke up today and realized it had a fee in it…it was there when they sent it over weeks ago! Grr.

Comment by Billy Batson Wednesday, Jun 1, 11 @ 12:15 am
What’s the big Jacobs/McCarter brouhaha? I doubt there was actually a punch thrown and it was actually something more along the lines of a shove, but unless McCarter is a wimpy whiner, it would be strange to file a police report, especially against another member.

Comment by Precinct Captain Wednesday, Jun 1, 11 @ 4:31 am