There we were last week, crammed into a small hearing room across the street from the Executive Mansion, listening to what many believe is the beginning of the latest scandal to bring down a top Illinois politician.

The subject at hand was an appeal of the firing of two people who helped run the state agency in charge of hiring.

The administration claims the duo rigged employment tests for at least 28 workers. The two counter that the fix started higher up the food chain, perhaps with Joe Cini, who is known in these parts as one of Blagojevich's patronage chiefs.

Not only does the fight come against the backdrop of an election year, but it comes on the heels of former Gov. George Ryan's conviction on corruption charges and in the midst of a federal trial into Chicago City Hall hiring practices.

It's not good, folks. And to hear attorney Carl Draper tell it, it's not going to get any better.

Here's what the Springfield lawyer, who is representing the two fired workers, told reporters following the hour-long hearing Thursday

"We're going to be very vigorously defending this case and these false charges and trying to get to the bottom line of who really is responsible for manipulation of the employment system. And we think its going to point to the heart of the governor's office," Draper said.

Money laundering

Whirlpool Corp.'s decision to idle 1,000 workers at its Maytag plant in Herrin has the state trying to recoup $192,500 it gave the company a couple of years ago.

It got us thinking: How much money have taxpayers shelled out over the years to help Maytag, which, a few years ago, also closed a factory in Galesburg after receiving similar handouts?

According to state records, the amount is $3.68 million.

Here's hoping the company that makes washers and dryers doesn't make a clean getaway.

Southern state of mind

Randy Dunn is a guy who uses big words. During a state Board of Education meeting, he often throws out words like "psychometric."

Last week, however, the state school superintendent uttered the phrase, "Y'all understand?"

Seemingly embarrassed, Dunn stopped, repeated the phrase and said, "I'm getting ready to go to Murray."

As in, Murray State University in Kentucky, where Dunn has taken a job as president of the school.

Blagojevich bleeds blue

In case you're thinking about betting on horse racing's Triple Crown, you might not want to ask Blagojevich for a prediction.

Nearly a month ago, hoping to ease the governor into a substantive conversation about the state budget, we tried to butter him up with a softball question about the Chicago Cubs.

It didn't work. Once he started talking about his beloved baseball team, he wouldn't shut up.

He said he didn't think Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee's wrist injury would hurt the team's chances of going to the World Series.

"We have such a blend of young players and veterans, that those young players, who don't know enough to feel like 'oh we can't win without Derrek Lee.' They're just excited about their chance to win," Blagojevich told us.

Until the Cubs began to win again last week, they had been victorious in a whopping four games out of 20 played since Blagojevich's upbeat assessment.

And the winner is…

Prairie Flounder.

That's the name we chose as the winner of our "Rename the Asian Carp" contest, which is aimed at making the nuisance fish more marketable.

As we've said before, the state is spending $750,000 to help a company buy equipment to make Asian Carp patties. Along with helping the company offset some of its investment, the subsidy could help cut into the population of the fish, which is clogging the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers and crowding out native species.

The problem: While a popular meal abroad, carp doesn't sell well in the United States.

Hence, the new name, thanks to reader Matt Kubiak of Bloomington.

Let's try it out

Waitress: What can I get you, honey?

Hungry Man: Do you have anything that tastes like mud?

Waitress: Yessir, that'd be today's special, Prairie Flounder fritters.

Happy eating.

Kurt Erickson and Matt Adrian cover state government and politics for Lee News Service in Springfield. They can be reached at kurt.Erickson@lee.net , matt.Adrian@lee.net or 217-782-1249.