* Drip, drip, drip…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign says the 2013 hiring of an $80,000 per year policy analyst at the state’s transportation agency had nothing to do with politics.
But, records show Edward M. Healy, 29, served as chairman of a campaign fund that had close connections to the Chicago Democrat’s campaign until June of that year.
Healy, who serves as a public transportation policy analyst for the Illinois Department of Transportation, chaired the Stronger Illinois Committee, which raised money from labor unions and funneled it to Democratic candidates running in the 2012 election for the General Assembly
The executive director of the Stronger Illinois committee was Cheryl Byers, a longtime Quinn friend and supporter who is now back on the governor’s campaign payroll as political director after helping him win the race for governor in 2010. […]
Quinn campaign spokeswoman Brooke Anderson dismissed questions that Healy’s hiring at the DOT was political and said Quinn did not create the Stronger Illinois PAC — even though Byers told the state board of elections the address was in the same suite of offices as the Quinn campaign.
* Rauner campaign react…
“Pat Quinn got his start as convicted Governor Dan Walker’s patronage chief so it’s no surprise that Pat Quinn’s administration is now embroiled in its own patronage scandal. It looks like it still pays to know Pat Quinn.” – Rauner spokesperson Mike Schrimpf
*** UPDATE 1 *** The Quinn campaign wants you to know that Healy has a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Harvard.
And here’s more from the Rauner campaign…
Stronger Illinois Paid Just $250 A Month In Rent For A River North Office
Stronger Illinois Paid Just $250 A Month In Rent For A River North Office. (Illinois Board Of Elections, Accessed 8/7/14)
In 2013, The Average Cost Per Sq. Foot For Chicago Office Space Was $32.24 Per Month. (Chicago Office Market Overview,Colliers International, Q3 2013)
If Stronger Illinois Was Paying Average Rates For An Office Separate From Taxpayers For Quinn, Then The Office Was Just 15.5 Sq. Feet.
Edward Healy’s Brother, Brian, Works For Quinn’s Reelection Campaign
Brian Healy, Edward Healy’s Brother, Is On Taxpayers For Quinn’s Payroll And Has Been Paid $7,582.31 Since January 29, 2014. (Illinois Board Of Elections, Accessed 8/7/14)
Edward Healy’s Sister, Margaret, Was A Quinn Surrogate
Margaret Healy, Edward Healy’s Sister, Appeared At A Quinn Press Conference To Attack Bruce Rauner.“Margaret Healy, a sixth-grade Chicago history teacher at Chicago City Day School, held up her pay stub and talked of living in a basement apartment and sometimes borrowing her parents’ car to make ends meet.” (Natasha Korecki and Sydney Lawson, “Quinn: Rauner Uses Loopholes To Dodge Taxes,” Chicago Sun-Times, 7/9/14)
*** UPDATE 2 *** Quinn was asked about this issue today…
- the Other Anonymous - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 9:38 am:
You have to hand it to the wordsmiths at the Rauner campaign. “[C]onvicted Governor Dan Walker’s patronage chief” is brilliant — never mind that Walker was convicted (or pled guilty) well after he left office for bank fraud, not for anything he did as Governir let alone patronage. And never mind that the law in patronage hiring in 1973 was different than today: we can link convicted, patronage, and Quinn in the same phrase!
- OneMan - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 9:45 am:
At some point, just be an adult and admit there is some connection…
Do they really think anyone buys this?
- dupage dan - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 9:49 am:
What did those who voted for Quinn expect from the political hack - reform? Fumigation in reverse.
- Chi - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 9:50 am:
So Byers was hired as political director, which is clearly exempt. Healy has a degree from Harvard in the field he was hired to work in. Do all patronage hires came with Masters degrees from Harvard? If so this Shakman guy has been barking up the wrong tree…
- Sir Reel - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 9:50 am:
Job titles like “policy analyst” are always the giveaway. Meaningless.
But of course there’s no connection whatsoever.
- A guy... - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 9:53 am:
The one short paragraph response should be a learning tool for the Quinn team. The long responses put people to sleep and even unconsciously imply there’s something to hide.
29 Year old fund chairmen should be the rare exception and everyone agrees you’ve got a Doogie Houser, not just a kid doing as he’s told. Another smelly detail.
- fed up - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 9:55 am:
More liesw from Pinnochio Pat. Lets see this political hacks resume. Im sure he has vast expertise in transportation. You know dropping of NRI cash to REV’s to get out the votes.
- Weltschmerz - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:00 am:
Wasn’t this ended when PQ threw out all of Blago’s hacks?
- Fed up - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:00 am:
I’m sure he has vast transportation expertise.
- better days - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:05 am:
will Quinn join blago soon .. Quinn’s 2010 55 million slush payout will give him the ticket
- the Patriot - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:06 am:
Most of the numbers I see track patronage hirings back to 2003, but that was Blagojevich, not Quinn.
Is this investigation going after the folks that paid for jobs under Blago, and/or are they trying to somehow tie those guys to Quinn?
- Jimbo - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:24 am:
Policy analysts aren’t political hires? Sheesh. Of course they are. They aren’t subject to Rutan and thier job is to push the governor’s agenda. Of course they were hired for political reasons. I understand it is hard to say that with the IDOT stuff going on but holy heck, no one is going to believe these people were interviewed with a blind process and selected based on merit.
- Jimbo - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:28 am:
Better days, it isn’t illegal for this person to be a political hire, it just looks bad. Settle down, because there’s nothing here but bad press and unless the NRI directly funded GOTV Quinn isn’t going to jail. He coiuld very well lose the election, but your wishful thinking is nothing more.
- walker - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:34 am:
Just doesn’t look good. It’s Pat Quinn’s Achilles heel, and every shot wounds him.
Like a lot of attacks from both sides, the substance and merits aren’t as important as the images they create. Curious that of many the folks uncovered in the press for political hires, seem, if anything, overqualified for the jobs.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:40 am:
The Rauner response is the correct way to handle it in this campaign.
The Quinn response should be something like, “he was a wonderfully talented guy we were so happy to place within IDOT”
- CircularFiringSquad - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:50 am:
Could someone tell Flip/Mitt Rauner and Mr. Shrimp that most folks who care about IL government and politics don’t really mind a little patronage….of course the hand wringers and dark money lobos at places like BGA will cluck in disagreement, but turning everything over to the unions has not proven the best course of action.
- Chris - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:52 am:
“The Quinn campaign wants you to know that Healy has a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Harvard.”
*I* want you to know that the kid played football at Fenwick. So there are layers of Quinn connections to the kid.
- OneMan - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 10:53 am:
There again, instead of helping graduates of Illinois Universities the un-Illions-Patriotic Pat Quinn administration gives out of state schools an advantage…
- Jimbo - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 11:15 am:
LOL OneMan. Kudos for the chuckle.
- Mason born - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 11:46 am:
CFS
With respect I am not so sure on that. Normally i’d think your right but with the supertight job market and the milenials struggling to find work after college selectively hiring a political hack comes across kind of raw. Granted this is clearly a political job but i don’t know that most voters will get that far into the story.
I wonder with our constant news stream and pocket devices how many people make it past the headline and the first two paragraphs of a story. (CapFax readers excluded of course)
- Very Fed Up - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 11:58 am:
Perhaps those who have been a politician for decades don’t see it but the argument that Quinn needs to keep his tax hike in place when there is an apparent endless slushfund to give cronies jobs at state agencies does not compute.
- Blaire - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 11:59 am:
I am not sure what the issue is here. If they hired Healy in as an exempt at-will employee that’s there prerogative. Now, if they brought him in as a union employee (circumventing vet’s preference, etc.) or they brought him as an at-will employee and then suddenly he magically appears as a union employee there’s an issue. Otherwise, a Governor Rauner can just as easily bring in his own “policy analyst” and get rid of this one. No harm, no foul.
- Arthur Andersen - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 12:06 pm:
Good Lord, I hope the kid on the Rauner Crew that did the ciphering on the office space isn’t shooting for budget director. He/she was only off by 6-7 times.
OTOH, maybe that’s who did the “Rauner Budget Plan.”
- foster brooks - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 12:07 pm:
Political hiring has been going on at IDOT since the agency was created, nothing new here.
- OneMan - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 12:20 pm:
AA
True,
Take 32.24 into 250 and you get 7.75 SQ Feet. So just about enough space for someone to lie down.
Six feet long and 1.2 feet wide, so less space than a sleeping bag takes up. Or perhaps one desk assuming someone doesn’t sit at it.
- Far and Wide - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 12:22 pm:
Lop off a few heads, point the finger at the agency,say you made changes and just deny, deny deny until the election is over. I don’t believe anyone in Springfield/Chicago with any knowledge of how government works these days would take any of this at face value. Where were those referrals and resume’s coming from, the Agency? I think not, they were coming from the Govs office to the Agency no doubt about it. That very question has yet to be asked and likely won’t be answered until they have no other choice. PQ better get himself a real attorney, not the empty suits he has around him now. Bad strategy Mr. Governor.
- Fed up - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 12:23 pm:
So you can get a job at IDOT with an out of state degree (and Quinections )but don’t try and become a teacher in Illinois with an out of state degree under Quinn regime.
- Mason born - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 1:00 pm:
–Lop off a few heads, point the finger at the agency,say you made changes and just deny, deny deny until the election is over.–
that’s the problem he boched that too. https://capitolfax.com/2014/08/07/it-wasnt-cleaned-up-after-all/
- Bird Dog - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 1:05 pm:
I do not know how many Rutan-exempt people IDOT has, but there are more than 200 at his title and higher in the Tech Manager series. Sounds like a lot to be exempt.
- kathryn - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 1:25 pm:
“One man” is correct. Quinn keeps saying we need to keep the tax hike in place and yet he has a lot of do nothing employees on the payroll, and keeps bringing them on board. I cant take him seriously until he gets rid of these unnecessary, highly paid employees.
- A guy... - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 1:57 pm:
Urban Planning Master’s at Harvard isn’t quite Doogie Houser, but it’s right up there with Howard, Raj, Sheldon and Leonard. Good enough.
- Anonymous - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 2:15 pm:
Wow. Illegal hiring again. Sounds like Gov Quinn may have some legal issues. He sure lost my vote. To many secrets.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Aug 8, 14 @ 2:16 pm:
===Wow. Illegal hiring again===
Where do you see that?