Beginning to sound a lot like campaign season

The governor's race continues to heat up as the Feb. 2 primary draws ever closer. Expect to hear a lot more from candidates this week. All seven Republicans are scheduled to make their cases to Daily Herald editors in a series of interview sessions this week. Watch the paper and dailyherald.com for coverage.

On the Democratic side, Dan Hynes was in last week. Gov. Pat Quinn's campaign canceled today's planned appearance at the paper and asked to reschedule.

Road trip

The community of Sterling will see a dramatic political influx on Tuesday as it hosts a state commission hearing on the planned sale of Thomson prison to the federal government, which plans to house federal inmates and around 100 terrorist detainees there once Guantanamo Bay closes.

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (that's "kug-fuh" in Capitolspeak) hearing is part of a procedural process required before any state facility can be closed, sold, etc. It was put in place at the behest of Republicans who had a state prison in their home districts targeted for closure by former-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. The commission's role is advisory only. It cannot block the move outright.

The 12-member commission is evenly divided among Republicans and Democrats and the House and Senate, even to the point of having two chairmen - Evanston Democratic state Sen. Jeff Schoenberg and Macomb Republican state Rep. Richard Myers.

Among the dozen members are Republican governor hopeful Bill Brady, a Bloomington state senator, and Republican lieutenant governor hopeful Matt Murphy, a Palatine state senator.

Murphy and state Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, are the only local Daily Herald-area lawmakers on the commission.

Speaking of waiting

The state's legal, medical, business and political circles continue to await an Illinois Supreme Court decision on a 2005 law that limited jury awards on pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases, a ruling that could propel the issue to the forefront of the campaigns.

The law was the culmination of two years of bitter debate and intense lobbying that even brought then-President Bush to a downstate rally to support the limits. Doctor groups and most Republicans claim out-of-control jury awards were driving up insurance premiums and making it financially impossible to stay in Illinois.

But trial lawyers and Democrats wondered how the leading medical malpractice insurance provider could be reporting record profits at the same time these allegedly out-of-control juries were bankrupting doctors.

Democrats, who control state government, ultimately bowed to the growing political pressure and approved the caps, but also required the malpractice insurance providers to open their books in an effort to bring more competition to the marketplace.

Sure enough, premiums have since gone down and both sides claim victory while all eyes turned to the court system where a lawsuit challenging the limits has slowly worked its way up to the state's high court.

The Illinois Supreme Court has twice before declared unconstitutional similar (but not identical) limits on jury awards. The court's opinion in the latest case was anticipated this past Thursday, "anticipated" being the key word. On Thursday morning, the stack of opinions did not include the one on medical malpractice.

No word on when we might next anticipate the ruling.

If the court overturns the law, it will immediately become a top issue in state campaigns.