* 2:24 pm - House Speaker Michael Madigan has just informed the House that he will call them into session beyond tomorrow’s scheduled adjournment if the Senate passes the constitutional amendment for recall on Thursday. Members are wondering if they need to be in town before the final 3rd Reading vote. It appears, of course, that they do.
Madigan was asked whether he would propose any amendments to the Senate proposal. He said he didn’t plan to do so, but he didn’t know what the sponsor - who will likely be Rep. Jack Franks - will do.
Madigan pointed out that if this proposed constitutional amendment is amended in the House, then it would have to be read three times in each chamber again. Sunday is the deadline to get the measure on the November ballot.
*** 2:25 pm *** Madigan was just asked by Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-Chicago) why this proposal has become such a high priority. Madigan replied that, at least among House members, “This has become such a priority because of Governor Blagojevich.”
Ouch.
* 2:39 pm - Rep. Jack Franks spoke to reporters a short time ago about the Senate’s recall proposal, which he calls “a better bill” than his own. He said he won’t amend the bill. Here’s the audio….
[If the audio player isn’t working for you, click here to download the mp3 file.]
* 2:43 pm - John Patterson at the Daily Herald no longer has a “bloggy type thing.” He’s got a real blog now with comments and everything. His latest post…
A “deal” on what supporters call major ethics legislation was supposed to be announced at 1 p.m. at the Capitol. But that announcement has now been pushed back to 4:30 p.m.
Some Republican supporters weren’t informed of the delay by the Democrats — who run the show in Springfield.
The GOP’s initial reaction was not a positive one.
Now the question is whether the delay is procedural or fatal.
…Adding… Rep. Fritchey just said that the ethics deal is still a deal. He’ll be holding a press conference with Sen. Harmon, House GOP Leader Cross and others at 4:30 this afternoon. The 1 pm press conference unveiling the deal was delayed so Fritchey could make extra sure that the deal was really a deal.
* 3:03 pm - The SJ-R has more…
Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said details of the ethics package wil be released later today.
He described the latest version as taking the best elements of separate House and Senate proposals that were both aimed at banning campaign contributions from contractors who do business with the state.
* 3:26 pm - With about an hour to go before the press conference, negotiators are still “tweaking” the compromise ethics bill. So, things could still go wrong, but the train appears mostly on track.