Stand for Children national director Jonah Edelman spoke a little too freely at an Aspen Institute event this month.

Edelman openly bragged about how his group had outfoxed the teacher unions and the Illinois media, and had taken advantage of an opening with House Speaker Michael Madigan to pass his sweeping education-reform proposal, which is now state law. His remarks created a huge stir, and Edelman has since apologized for his candor, but most of what he said about Illinois politics was quite fascinating and definitely worth a look.

There are lots of different angles to Governor Pat Quinn's highly controversial decision to unilaterally refuse to pay scheduled, contractual pay raises to unionized state employees, so let's take them one at a time.

• This is Not "New" News. Chicago reporters are the only ones with access to the governor these days. (Quinn has held just one Springfield press conference in months.) The city's reporters probably don't know that the House Republicans - and even some House Democrats - have been agitating since at least April to somehow stop AFSCME's scheduled pay raises.

Iowa lawmakers on Thursday adjourned the third-longest legislative session in state history with Republicans touting their success in being fiscally responsible and Democrats lamenting what they saw as too little funding for education.

Adjournment finally came on the last day of the state fiscal year and the 172nd calendar day of session. The only times that the legislature has taken longer to adjourn its regular session were 1967 (when lawmakers adjourned July 2 after 175 days) and 1978 (when session adjourned July 15 after 188 days).

"We all just want to go home," said Representative Matt Windschitl (R-Missouri Valley).

The Iowa House adjourned first at 3:36 p.m. after 61-31 passage of the health-and-human-services budget bill and closing-day speeches by leaders. The Iowa Senate followed by approving that same bill 27-18 and adjourning at 3:43 p.m. Both chambers also approved a one-month budget that continues state services while giving the governor 30 days to review the just-passed bills.

On May 26, 1776, John Adams - who represented Massachusetts at the Second Continental Congress - wrote exultantly to his friend James Warren that "every post and every day rolls in upon us independence like a torrent." Adams had reason for rejoicing, for this was what he and others had hoped and worked for almost since the Congress had convened in May of the previous year. It helped, to be sure, that George III had proclaimed the colonies in rebellion, and this encouraged the Americans to take him at his word. Later, George Washington proceeded to drive General Howe out of Boston. This demonstrated that Americans need not stand on the defensive, but could vindicate themselves in military strategy quite as well as in political.

However exciting to some, America was going through the difficult process of being born. In any event, the stage of history was being set. On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced three resolutions calling for independence, foreign alliances, and confederation. Some wanted unity and voted to postpone the final vote for three weeks. This allowed time for debate and for the hesitant and fainthearted to come over or step out. In the meantime, Congress appointed a committee to prepare a "Declaration of Independence." This committee consisted of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson.

Jefferson had come to the Continental Congress the previous year, bringing with him a reputation for literature, science, and a talent for composition. His writings, said John Adams, "were remarkable for their peculiar felicity of expression." In part because of his rhetorical gifts, in part because he already had a reputation for working quickly, in part because it was thought that Virginia - as the oldest, the largest, and the most deeply committed of the states - should take the lead, the committee unanimously turned to Jefferson to prepare a draft declaration.