A Fifty-Two Pickup

Operatives travelling to Springfield on January 9 to see David McSweeney sworn in will find themselves a day late and a dollar short. Plus two days. Not to mention eighty bucks worth of gas.

McSweeney, Lake County's newest District 52 State Rep is to be sworn in three days early. Anyone who thought the seat is still held by Kent Gaffney -- the outgoing District 52 Rep -- would be wrong. According to the Daily Herald ...

Gaffney, a Lake Barrington Republican who lost his primary bid this year, resigned this week, and McSweeney will be sworn in Jan. 6. That's when state lawmakers will be in their so-called lame-duck session, possibly voting on last-minute efforts to legalize gay marriage, ban certain guns and cut teacher and state worker retirements.
McSweeney to start serving in House early

Your LakeCountyEye will not speculate why Gaffney resigned in advance. However McSweeney needed to be caucused-in to be eligible to claim the seat before the end of the session. So it is a safe bet that some sort deal was brokered in advance and that Gaffney did not leave in a huff. Likely it was in a late model sedan, perhaps bound to Springfield where all the lobbying and legislative aide jobs are.

Lake County will now sleep well knowing that gays will not be able to get married and that guns will not be banned and that teachers will not get their pensions -- not with a true Republican like David McSweeney on the watch.

Your LakeCountyEye has been told that the news did not sit well with one Lake County Republican, County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor. It is rumored that Lawlor was promised Gaffney's seat and had been observed measuring the drapes at the District 52 State Rep office in Springfield.

In related news, it is widely believed that John Boehner may fail in January to be re-elected as Speaker of the House. And Aaron Lawlor has been recently observed measuring the drapes at the Speaker's office in Washington DC.