SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Friday afternoon email read with remarkable alacrity, given its message: The trip to a Springfield store to buy all-purpose Fabuloso Cleaner for the Secretary of State's office was for naught.

"They would not sell to us because we are shut off due to lack of payment," the storeroom worker wrote to his boss and others. "Have a great weekend!"

As Illinois politicians continue to squabble over a budget that should have taken effect July 1, hundreds of state contractors have been left with little more than I.O.U.s, according to more than 500 pages of documents — just since Nov. 1 — released to The Associated Press under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

From a $28.44 late-notice water and sewer bill at the 1848 Mt. Pulaski Courthouse — which had neither when Abraham Lincoln practiced law there — to $4.8 million that Illinois owes Michigan for a health partnership, vendors have flooded the Capitol with disconnect warnings, credit-hold notices, desperate pleas and even a frowny face stamp in an effort to get paid.