Tips and leaks

Talk about your silent nights ...
Tonight (Wednesday) is the holiday party for the governor's Springfield office.
I'm pretty sure he's not there. So it's a traditional party.
Ho, ho, ho

Memo to employees: never mind initial memo
Back on Monday,the governor was getting positive national coverage for his efforts to keep a Chicago door and window open after Bank of America canceled its line of credit. On Tuesday morning a memo emailed to state employees telling them use of Bank of America travel cards had been suspended. By Tuesday afternoon, a second email announced the suspension was over.

Waiting is the hardest part
Lawmakers next week are expected to approve legislation that would take away from the governor the power to appoint a fill-in U.S. senator and instead create a special election for the post.
In much of the national coverage this stripping away of power has been considered a given. Don't forget the legislative process. After the House and Senate, the plan lands on the governor's desk and he has 60 days to act.
Complicating timing is that this batch of lawmakers is on its way out with new members being sworn in Jan. 14.
So there's fewer than 60 days left of this General Assembly.
If the governor were to wait until after Jan. 14 to veto or even tweak the plan with an amendatory veto, it would be dead.
Why? Because that version of the General Assembly would exist only in history books. There's no way to bring members who retired or were defeated back to override the governor.
Instead, a new version would have to be filed and the process starts all over.
Keep in mind, even if a special election were approved today and signed into law, you still have to account for candidate filing, a primary and a general election.
It doesn't look like Illinois is going to have a replacement for Obama anytime soon.