Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget plan for 2011 calls for about $2.5 billion in cuts from the 2010 budget.

Quinn’s special Web site, which is linked here, simply expects that additional revenues will make up about $11 billion that is needed to balance the budget — beyond the cuts that are mentioned above.

The Web site is supposed to allow members of the public to give Quinn suggestions on how to balance the budget. He already has said he wants some major tax increases. His fellow Democrats who hold majorities in the House and Senate, say tax increases won’t get the votes needed this year.

Meanwhile, schools and hospitals, state agencies and municipalities all wonder when … or if, the state will ever catch up on its overdue bills.

Other agencies wonder how they’ll survive if a full $13 billion in cuts have to be made to balance the spending plan.

No matter how this budget gets worked out, there will be plenty of pain to go around.

Jailed former Gov. George Ryan has lost his bid to get back a portion of the state pension that was stripped after he was convicted of corruption.

In a 6-1 decision the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that Ryan must forfeit all of his pension. That reverses a February 2009 appellate court ruling, which would have given Ryan the pension benefits he earned between 1972 and 1989 when he was in the General Assembly and was lieutenant governor.

Although the high court agreed that Ryan was convicted of felonies committed between 1990 and 2002, when he was secretary of state and governor, the justices in their judgment said the statute involving pensions still warrants forfeiture “for crimes committed against the employer, in this case the state of Illinois.”

Ryan was seeking to retain a pension of about $60,000 a year. Before his conviction and 6.5-year sentence for fraud and racketeering, Ryan was entitled to $197,000 a year.

Illinois politics is never dull. It may be corrupt and dysfunctional, but never dull.

In the Democratic gubernatorial primary, Gov. Pat Quinn held an 8,090-vote edge 36 hours after the polls closed, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Dan Hynes conceded defeat early today rather than demanding a recount.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, had a 406-vote lead over fellow Senate member Kirk Dillard of Hinsdale in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Dillard has not conceded yet and hopes that provisional ballots and overseas military votes will give him victory.

The supporters of pawnbroker Scott Lee Cohen were overjoyed when he won the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor. They’re not as excited about his electability after the Chicago news media got copies of his domestic violence record. It shows that in 2005 Cohen was arrested and accused of holding a knife to the neck of a former girl friend, who also happened to be a prostitute. The charges were dropped after the 29-year-old woman failed to show up to testify in Cohen’s case.

Cohen’s former wife also sought an order of protection against him months earlier after she filed for divorce.

Logic would dictate that it’s better to be a clear-cut nominee, rather than someone whose nomination is still in doubt. Cohen’s situation could turn that conclusion on its head. Being the nominee when a bombshell scandal breaks is worse.

At least the eventual nominees may be able to raise funds and campaign with a fair shot at getting elected. But then, Cohen may be seeking votes from those who still like Rod Blagojevich.