Gov. Pat Quinn tried to distance himself today from an early prison release program that became a political bombshell a little more than two weeks ago.

On Dec. 13 the Associated Press reported that the Illinois Department of Corrections was crediting new prisoners with “meritorious good time” which had allowed some offenders to get out of prison in less than three weeks.

Quinn immediately suspended the early release program, which was designed to get people out of overcrowded prisons. He eventually admitted that he knew, at least to some extent, about the good time credit.

Wednesday afternoon Quinn’s communications staff fired off lengthy press releases to tell how the administration is overhauling the program. You can read it here.

The heart of the press release is meant to keep the prison releases from becoming a big issue in the Feb. 2 primary election. That is done in a few ways:

• The opening paragraph points out that the Meritorious Good Time program was established by statute in 1978.

(Translation: Hey, the governor can’t be blamed for a program in place for 31 years.)

• Judge David Erickson has done a comprehensive evaluation of the program and helped craft the administration’s overhaul.

(Translation: A criminal justice expert is helping put things right.)

• “On average 1,718 inmates served 37 days less than they would have under the prior 61-day meritorious credit program. Even under the 61-day meritorious credit program, 1,392 inmates (81 percent of those 1,718) would have been released by Dec. 30 and all would have been released by the end of January 2010.”

(Translation: Wow! Under all those numbers, anyone can see that most prisoners weren’t getting out way, way early. Aren’t these great statistics?)

Now, despite the obvious intent of deflecting blame with his press release, Quinn deserves credit for doing the right thing immediately after the problem came to light and putting an expert in charge of fixing things.

It is unlikely that this issue will grow big enough to hurt Quinn in the primary election on Feb. 2. Challenger Dan Hynes is just too far behind in the polls. But Quinn’s people are going to do their best to keep this issue under control so that if there are other blunders, the cumulative effect won’t cost their guy the election.

Craig Redmon, Canton, announced today that he will seek the Republican nomination for the 1st District House seat next year.

Redmon hopes to follow Rep. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown, who cannot run for re-election next year due to term limits.

Last year Munzlinger was challenged in his re-election bid by Keri Cottrell, a teacher at Canton R-5 Elementary School. Munzlinger won the race by a 62-38 percent margin. But the incumbent was hammered by Cottrell for his support of the state’s school funding formula which has been criticized by lots of rural schools.

Cottrell gained some name and face recognition in her campaign and the Democrat has been working since July on her 2010 campaign. So when Republicans in the 1st District starting looking for a successor to Munzlinger, they went to Redmon, a nine-year member of the Canton R-5 School Board, with three of those years as board president.

“I was first approached last March, just when I was retiring off the School Board,” Redmon said. “My first response was that I was not interested.”

Of course, Redmon warmed to the idea and is now ready to campaign for the House seat.

By finding a former school board president to counter a school teacher, the Republicans may hope to minimize Cottrell’s ability to make the school funding formula an issue. As part of the bargain, the GOP selected a man who has been elected several times by Lewis County voters.

Political strategy is either a beautiful or an ugly thing: It all depends on one’s party affiliation and the circumstances.

Beau Hicks, a Lewis County man who split with the Republican party over cuts for services to the elderly and disabled in 2005, ran as a Democrat in 2006 against Munzlinger. Hicks now says his campaign was “a good experience” overall, but adds that he has no intentions of seeking office again. He said the 2006 campaign cured him of that ambition.

The Associated Press is developing a story on U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith’s announcement that he will join the Republican party.

Griffith, a first-term House member from Huntsville, Ala., voted against the federal stimulus bill in February and has opposed the health care reform legislation within the House.

Griffith, 67, is a radiation oncologist and according to The Associated Press:

“At a press conference in Alabama on Tuesday, Parker Griffith says as a doctor he wants to make it clear that he believes the health care overhaul making its way through Congress is bad for physicians and patients.”

Analysts say Griffith won his very conservative district by a narrow margin last year and probably will have an easier time running for re-election as a Republican.

Democrats will still hold a 257-178 edge over Republicans in the House after Griffith’s switch.

Alabama’s Democratic chairman said Griffith’s move was no surprise.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell saw something beyond a single House member’s decision.

“Americans throughout the country share Congressman Griffith’s frustration, and his announcement today should be a sign to Democrats that their agenda has turned sharply away from mainstream America,” McConnell said.

On Thursday the House of Representatives passed the Jobs for Main Street Act. The heart of the legislation calls for unused money from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) — which was designed to bail out banks — to become the funding source for a public works program.

In press releases from U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, the point was made that many of the provisions in the bill that passed were similar if not identical to Hare’s “New Deal for a New Economy Act,” which was unveiled earlier.

“I am pleased that the House has passed a package that will help put the American people back to work,” Hare said in his release. “I thank the Democratic leadership for including many of my ideas in the Jobs for Main Street Act.”

Bobby Schilling, a Republican candidate for the 17th District seat now held by Hare, saw things a bit differently.

“The Democrats in Congress, including Rep. Phil Hare, are falsely claiming that this “New-New Deal” is going to create at least 3 million jobs. Didn’t they also predict that the $787 billion stimulus was going to create 6.8 million jobs by 2012?” Schilling asked in a release.

“Since passing the stimulus, 2.65 million jobs have been lost across the country,” Schilling said.

The jobs bill now goes to the Senate, which continues with sessions this week. However, insiders say that particular piece of legislation is not likely to come up for debate or a vote until next month.

MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews hosted two U.S. House members from Illinois who definitely don’t agree with each other on using the Thomson Correctional Center  to accept detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

The video, linked here, runs nearly 10 minutes and shows U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, opposing the plan on national security grounds. U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, supports the plan due to the jobs it will bring.

The two men talk over the top of each other, trying to get in their best shots. It’s entertaining and frustrating as well.

In addition, Matthews gets Schock in a discussion about whether he would have outlawed waterboarding as an interrogation method. When Schock said he would not “tie the hands” of U.S. intelligence personnel who could save American lives, Matthews says that means Schock has no problem with torture.

D.K. Hirner, who is running for the Democratic nomination in the 18th District, sent out a press release today calling for Schock to apologize for his comments.

“Aaron Schock’s latest comments in support of the use of torture are just another in a line of reckless and ill informed statements by Mr. Schock that undermine our credibility as a nation as we lead the world in the fight against terrorism,” Hirner said.

There will undoubtedly be a debate between those who believe waterboarding — simulated drowning — is torture and those who say it should not be lumped in with torture techniques that maim the inmate’s body.

Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation designed to toughen ethics rules on the one-year anniversary of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s arrest on corruption charges. Dan Hynes, the leading challenger in the Democrat primary, responded by reminding people that more work remains to be done.

Quinn signed a campaign-contribution limits bill into law and promised to pursue even greater reforms.

Blagojevich, whose court case is supposed to start in June, was charged with trying to seek campaign funds or other forms of personal profit from selecting a U.S. senator to fill the vacancy left when President Barack Obama was elected.

While Quinn had the chance to claim the campaign reforms as his own, fellow Democrat, Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes noted that he had called for significant political ethics rules for several years.

“When we finally passed the ban on pay-to-play in 2007, overcoming three years of legislative inertia and Rod Blagojevich’s veto, I said then that it was an important first step, but that more needed to be done.  I would encourage Governor Quinn to heed those words,” Hynes said in a release.

Hynes also urged Quinn to “fumigate” Illinois government by firing those put in office by Blagojevich.

Quinn has said firings are not possible at this time because law enforcement officials are interviewing many of those appointees as part of criminal investigation.

Republican gubernatorial contender Jim Ryan said he would cut revenue-sharing with local units of government as part of efforts to balance the Illinois budget.

That would be bad news for cities like Quincy, which are already struggling to make ends meet due to lower tax collections and reduced state payments. In the end, the taxpayers of those cities might see either a fair number of service cuts or higher taxes.

Ryan and the other six men seeking the Republican nomination met last Monday with the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board. All seven said they oppose the tax increases proposed by top Democrat contenders Gov. Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dan Hynes.

The Republicans all talked about reducing pension benefits for future state workers.
Andy McKenna pledged that he would cut state agency budgets back to 2006 levels.

Sen. Bill Brady said cutting state sales tax would boost business income, which ultimately would lead to higher tax collections.

Dan Proft said cutting income taxes on individuals and businesses would similarly boost state funding.
Adam Andrzejewski said retirement programs should be handled by individual agencies, rather than the General Assembly.

Sen. Kirk Dillard said the Democrats overstated the budget hole this year when they said it was $13 billion short. He estimates the shortfall at closer to $6 billion, but said even that level of underfunding may take more than one year to resolve.

Bob Schillerstrom favors zero-based budgets and opposes new taxes as well.