•  The news of the week obviously is the primary election, the very low voter turnout and the stunningly close races, particularly for the office of governor. With 100% of the precincts reporting, Comptroller Dan Hynes gave a gracious and heartfelt concession speech on Thursday morning pledging his full support for Governor Quinn as he narrowly lost a spirited race. On the Republican side, State Senator Bill Brady was the top vote getter, with State Senator Kirk Dillard a mere 406 votes behind him in second place. What’s next? A February 3, 2010 report from the Illinois Statehouse News summarized the process in their interview with Ron Michaelson, former director of the Illinois State Board of Elections:

“Ron Michaelson, former director of the Illinois State Board of Elections, says if a recount is requested by a candidate, it won’t start until after March 5. March 5 is the date when all ballots are officially counted. Absentee ballots postmarked the day before the election, deployed Armed Forces members’ ballots and any provisional ballots still have to be counted. Ballots from each county much be aggregated, Michaelson says. Illinois’ current law for election recounts has never been put to use and in order to request a recount, a candidate must have 95 percent of the total votes the other candidate has. Recounts are expensive, time-consuming and often steer voters away from the November general election, Michaelson says. Candidates want to “exhaust all their options,” he says. There is potential for a lengthy, expensive and drawn out proceeding,” he says.”

• With input from the local Associations, the RPAC Trustees selected 10 “Tier One Target” races this primary election for extraordinary efforts on behalf of the selected candidates. RPAC funds were used to do a mailing to registered REALTORS in 1 Senate race (incumbent Senator Chris Lauzen), 5 House races (incumbent Representatives Suzie Bassi, Kay Hatcher, and Michael Zalewski and challengers Jeff Smith and REALTOR Joe Sosnowski) and in 4 local races (Cook County Board Commissioner Elizabeth Gorman; Will County Board Commissioner Ann Dralle and REALTOR challenger Laurie McPhillips) and REALTOR Dan Patlak running for the Cook County Board of Review. In addition, live telephone calls were made to urge REALTORS to get out and vote in the Patlak race. Eight of the ten candidates were elected- including all three of the REALTOR candidates. Unfortunately Representative Suzie Bassi lost her primary race, the only incumbent to lose this primary election, and challenger Jeff Smith lost his bid for the Democratic nomination in the 18th House district. Look for additional election information on our website next week and we will keep you posted on the recount activities.
   
• Despite the election on Tuesday, the House of Representatives scheduled session and committee hearings for Wednesday and Thursday but very little action occurred beyond introduction of bills. Both chambers will return next week. Thursday, February 11th is the deadline date for bills to be introduced in both the House and the Senate.
   
• The 34th annual Capitol Conference is Tuesday, March 23rd. Registration and legislative briefings will take place at the Howlett Building (adjacent to the Capitol). Registration begins at 12:30 and the program will begin at 12:50 p.m. Capitol visits are scheduled from 2:00-5:00 and a reception follows at the IAR Headquarters (522 S. 5th Street) at 5:30 p.m. Registration is only $15 until March 11th- after that date you must pay the walk-in fee of $25. To register, visit www.illinoisrealtor.org or call 800-252-2910.