SNEED; MICHAEL SNEED (STANDARD)

Bulb blurb . . .

Check it out! Taxpayers' alert: Sneed is told the State ofIllinois Center, the monster of the midway, owes approximately$900,000 in electric bills! The extension cord: The overdue balance goes back nearly a year,although they are continuing to pay a monthly average of between$125,000 to $150,000. The hot wire: Word is a $6,000 late fee was recently attached to thebig-bucks bill. Ouch. Flick the switch! The donut mole . . .

Operation Kaffeeklatsch: FBI mole Robert Cooley, who has lentnew meaning to breakfast banter, was a busy, busy boy. Watch forRepublican names to surface in the federal probe of court corruptionand organized crime. Cooley was also close to big-time GOP wardcommitteemen. Baer bit . . .

Watch for conservative Republican Steve Baer to announce his candidacy for the Republicangubernatorial nomination this Thursday . . . IF he can raise $1million before then. At Friday's close, the Baer camp claimed it hadraised $640,000. They claim liberal GOP front-runner Jim Edgar's warchest was $2.7 million last August. Begorrah! . . .

A tradition broken? Mayor Daley was a no-show at the annualIrish Fellowship Christmas luncheon Friday and drew the enmity ofirate attendees, who claimed the event was a favorite of his latefather, Mayor Richard J. Daley. Sneed's comment: Times have changed.Sounds like a smart mayoral move to me. Methinks Daley doesn't wantthe Erin Isle to become the Errin' Aisle. The Prince . . .

The love slave? Scoopsville: Sneed's source mired in deep, deepcelluloid reports that sultry actress Kim Basinger is so far underthe spell of rocker Prince that she has just fired her agent and herlawyer. "She is in Prince's hands now," said the source. "He has a strong hand in making her decisions. Word is Basinger just optedout of a movie where she kills a man and Prince reportedly told her:" `You don't kill men. You love them.' " Let me out of this purplerain and gimme a break. The wince . . .

The butt of it: Chicago police Detective Bob Rice, Ald. EdBurke's former bodyguard, will make his movie debut this week in"We're No Angels," starring Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. The killer: Not only does Bob get bumped off in the first fewminutes of the film, but he accidentally struck director Neil Jordanin the head with a shotgun during the scene! The kicker: Producer Fred Caruso just offered Rice a role as apolice detective in the upcoming "Bonfire of the Vanities," which will star Tom Hanks and Michelle Pfeiffer. Sneedlings . . .

The pol maul: The comeback of the year award goes to Ironworkerslabor leader Buddy Ruel, who was "banished" to a South Carolina deskjob for backing Ed Vrdolyak's mayoral bid. Ruel was just electedpresident of the Midwest Ironworkers District Council. . . . Sundaybirthdays: Ed Howlett, 36; Dorothy Lamour, 75, and Susan Dey, 37.