* Little Lip’s situation just gets more bizarre all the time. Kristen McQueary had an excellent column this week that we unfortunatley overlooked. The piece is about the all too convenient connections between Congressman Dan Lipinaksi and his father, former Congressman Bill Lipinski. Here’s a little background…

Dan and William Lipinski share office space at 5838 Archer Ave. for political purposes. The building serves as William Lipinski’s headquarters for his business, Blue Chip Consulting, and Dan Lipinski’s campaign office… The All-American Eagle Fund, which the elder Lipinski operates, also lists 5838 Archer Ave. as its headquarters along with the 23rd Ward political operation.

* According to McQueary, Bill Lipinski’s All-American Eagle Fund has made payments to both Dan Lipinski’s chief of staff, Jerry Hurckes and Dan’s former communication director, Chris Ganschow.

Little Lip’s response? “I don’t see how that is an issue.”

Strike one.

Why? Because Bill Lipinski, who runs the All-American Eagles Fund, is also a lobbyist…

You’ve got Dan Lipinski, a congressman, promising to bring a Central Avenue underpass to Bedford Park and serving on the House Transportation Committee, while his father, former U.S. Rep. William Lipinski, collected fees from Bedford Park as a paid consultant to lobby specifically for the underpass.

* Dan Lipinksi swears that he and his daddy don’t talk about official business like that project in Bedford Park, even though daddy’s lobbying firm is located in Danny’s campaign office and daddy is paying two of Danny’s advisers from his All-American Eagle Fund, which is supposed to be about helping children, but isn’t doing a lot of that, unless we’re talking about Bill Lipinski’s child.

Strike two.

* Ah, but it gets even better. Dan Lipinski’s campaign fund shows payments to his daddy’s lobbying firm…

“It was for advice I received from Bill Lipinski, just like anyone would pay a political consultant,” [Dan Lipinski] said. […]

The advice was not related to any Blue Chip clients but, rather, some pointers on how, after his election, to put together an office, Dan Lipinski said. He described the advice as “random issues that anyone goes to a political consultant for. I could not go to anyone to get better advice in my current job than to him.”

* OK, so let’s sum up, shall we? Bill Lipinski games the system to get his kid elected to Congress. The son keeps his dad’s cronies on the payroll, and two of them (includng one who remains on the payroll) are getting payments from his father’s childrens’ charity fund, which doesn’t appear to be doing a lot of charitable work except for Dan Lipinski’s benefit. Dan shares an office with his daddy’s lobbying firm and even pays that firm for advice, but he insists he never talked with daddy about a project that the elder Lipinski is working on.

Strike three.

* More congressional stories, compiled by Paul…

* Early departure for Hastert to trigger special election

* Hastert wraps up 20-year House career; more here

* Objection filed vs. ‘mystery’ candidate

*** UPDATE *** Some Oberweis stories…

* Oberweis dumps helicopter for fireplace in new TV spot

* Oberweis: hard line on immigration - GOP candidate backs border fence, rejects amnesty

* Tribbies: Oberweis returns to immigration issue