* Somebody finally took notice of the under-the-radar bill actions by this governor. From the Tribune…

…Quinn announced by e-mail [a week ago] last Friday that he had signed [the video gaming bill] along with other bills more than two hours after state offices closed. Quinn said he approved the measure so late in the day because he simply had “a lot of things to do,” including an earlier bill signing at a YMCA on the city’s West Side.

The low-profile approach allowed to Quinn to put off explaining why he approved the measure over the objections of the state’s chief gambling regulator, who has said the law would be a “disaster” for his agency. The law scales back an Illinois Gaming Board rule to require those wishing to operate video gambling terminals to testify they had not previously used the machines illegally. […]

Quinn also signed a bill to protect banks that charge customers an extra five days of interest a year. The governor did so in the late afternoon this week when his public schedule was done for the day.

The Tribune had highlighted the legislation as a potential conflict of interest after the measure passed the Senate with no opposition. Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, is a partner at a law firm that represents banks impacted by it. Cullerton said he had no conflict. Speaker Madigan, D-Chicago, later voted “present,” saying he would abstain to avoid a potential conflict because his law firm also represents banks involved.

* That isn’t all he’s done. As the article notes, Gov. Quinn posted his latest round of budget cuts online without telling anyone. And here’s a bit of what I told subscribers about back on Saturday, July 31st…

* Gov. Pat Quinn chose a late Friday evening after every reporter had gone home to act on some very controversial legislation.

For instance, he signed House Bill 4927, which has been slammed by Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe and the Tribune editorial board for limiting the board’s discretion on denying a new video gaming license. The governor’s signing statement is here: After careful deliberation, it is evident to me that there are appropriate safeguards and ample authority in existing law to prevent objectionable operators from conducting video gaming in Illinois.

* Quinn also used his amendatory veto power to delete language on a bill that would’ve forced all people convicted of sex crimes to remain on the state’s registry for life. Perhaps not coincidentally, the bill was the subject of a Neil Steinberg column yesterday.

The governor’s AV statement makes note of the request for change: Accordingly, I am pleased to honor their request for this amendatory veto and look forward to working with them in the future on this very important issue.

The AV could easily be used by the Bill Brady campaign to further the claim that Quinn is soft on crime. Stay tuned.

* The Illinois Nurses Association and teachers unions coalesced to oppose House Bill 6065. Quinn used his AV powers to move the effective date to June 11, 2011.

* Other bill action from last night…

* SB3047, creates the Health Care Justice Implementation Task Force: Amendatory Veto, moves back reporting deadline a year, changes structure of voting members, etc.

* SB2819, changes burden of proof of death from the life insurance company to the claimant: Amendatory Veto: “changed to protect consumers”

Up until now, the media has mostly let Quinn get away with this stuff. He needs to be called out way more often.

* Related…

* Statehouse Insider: Gov. Transparency strikes again