* From Michael Sneed…
Sneed hears that powerful Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s decision Wednesday not to call the state’s minimum wage bill during this week’s veto session — which Quinn wanted big-time — was intended to do Mayor Rahm Emanuel a favor.
◆ Translation: “Gov. Quinn wanted the state minimum wage hike passed before he leaves office — but Madigan, instead, tossed a sop to Rahm in order not to steal Rahm’s re-election thunder,” a top Sneed source said. […]
The latest version of the state’s minimum wage bill would have nullified Chicago’s home-rule authority to raise the minimum wage in the future. The City Council — under Rahm’s leadership — passed a bill this week raising the city’s minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019. […]
Quinn may be a lame duck — but he is still quacking.
“Before the new governor arrives, I want a $10-an-hour minimum wage passed outside Chicago,” he told Sneed Wednesday. “I’ve been waiting for Mike [Madigan] to get this needle threaded. I just want a plain vanilla minimum wage passed. But it has just been hurry up and wait for the Senate to act.”
Two guesses who that “top Sneed source” is.
*** UPDATE *** The Quinn folks say that the governor and his staff were definitely not the source and that the governor doesn’t agree with the sentiment expressed.
- Wordslinger - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:11 am:
Why even bother with an “anonymous” source? It’s just silly.
At least you know it’s Quinn. Not like another Chicago columnist who routinely makes up perfect quotes from fictional “anonymous” sources.
- Aldyth - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:13 am:
How quickly a lame duck becomes history.
- Apocalypse Now - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:14 am:
Minimum wage increase is bad economics.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:19 am:
Why is Quinn waiting for Madigan to “get this needle threaded?”
Shouldn’t he be traveling the state urging passage of the measure? The bully pulpit is his last remaining tool. Did he think one press conference in Springfield was gonna do it? Where are the robo calls and the blast emails telling me to call my state rep?
- GBR - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:21 am:
Man, Quinn must have collected a lot of Sneed chits over the years if she’s still shilling for him in his waning days. Mike, time to start kissing up to the Mayor…Quinn’s scoop-providing days are almost over.
- Del Clinkton - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:22 am:
Minimum wage increase is bad economics…for whom?
- anon - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:24 am:
== How quickly a lameduck becomes history. ==
It’s not like Quinn had a bunch of clout with Madigan before Nov. 4. For example, Quinn proposed two budget proposals early in the year — one with the tax extension and one without — and the legislature kept the spending from the first without the tax extension.
- Amalia - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:25 am:
weirdest recent Sneed column was an obit of a friend, whose funeral she attended, presented as a long, long explanation for why Sneed was not at Jane Byrne’s funeral. often paying for the Sun Times is just paying for a Sneed vanity piece. it’s all about her.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:27 am:
“Are you going to miss Pat Quinn?”
When he acts like a Dope, like in this instance, nope, I won’t miss Pat Quinn at all.
I don’t know what Quinn will do after January, but if he did it quietly and behind the scenes, and was non-intrusive, I’d like that a lot.
I’d like that, Dopey stuff like this points otherwise.
Happy Holidays, Pat.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:28 am:
Quinn is a very very scorned man right now. He feels many people turned their back on him. With that in mind look for him to stick it up Rahms and Rauners back sides every way he can before he is out. Many appointments can happen in the next month.
- Out Here In The Middle - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:32 am:
Bad economics? Only if you’re looking to concentrate wealth. From Bloomberg’s — “U.S. companies outside of the finance industry are holding more cash on their balance sheets than ever, with $1.64 trillion at the end of 2013. ”
(http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-31/apple-leads-u-s-companies-holding-record-1-64-trillion.html)
- GBR - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:32 am:
– Amalia — I thought the same thing. Suggested question of the day: which Chicago newspaper lead columnist has a bigger ego, Sneed or Kass?
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:34 am:
The minimum wage bill would have had a better chance in the House had Quinn’s floor leader done a better job working his colleagues…oh, wait…Quinn never had a floor leader.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:38 am:
On great leaders:
“On the one hand… Looks in the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or bad luck. Yet on the other hand… Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for the success of the company—to other people, external factors, and good luck.”
- Jim Collins, Good to Great
- OneMan - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:38 am:
Amalia
Get it, forget it…
GBR — Sneed in a heartbeat, natch.
- William j Kelly - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:41 am:
Sneedless to say? Yes!
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:42 am:
And as long as I am at it, good advice for the governor-elect on putting together his administration, and finding the right leaders to do it:
“Virtually everything our modern culture believes about the type of leadership required to transform our institutions is wrong. It is also dangerous. There is perhaps no more corrosive trend to the health of our organizations than the rise of the celebrity CEO, the rock-star leader whose deepest ambition is first and foremost self-centric….
So, how should we go about identifying Level 5 leaders?
The key step is to stop looking for outsized personalities and egocentric celebrities, and instead to scrutinize for results. Look inside for some part of the organization where extraordinary results have been produced but where there is no person standing forth to take excessive credit for those results.”
- JS Mill - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:43 am:
@YDD- great quote from a great book! Kudos.
- Soccermom - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:47 am:
OW — “quietly and behind the scenes, and was non-intrusive..”
I have no words.
- Louis Howe - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:48 am:
Quinn is moving on after the first of the year to run for the U.S. Senate in 2016. It won’t be long before Rauner’s juggling act meets Madigan and Cullerton in Springfield’s Three Ring Circus.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:51 am:
- Soccermom -,
I was going to put a disclaimer that “please refrain from eating or drinking before reading”, but I thought, “let the comedy ensue”
- PublicServant - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:53 am:
Quinn isn’t the only Illinois governor that Madigan is going to pose an impediment to.
- Walter Mitty - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 9:58 am:
This comment is exactly what got Rauner elected. Pat was and is for Pat. All politicians are. The Governor elect say’s he’s about the people of Illinois. Here’s to hope and change… Just not like the other guy’s version… Gang, if not we are all in trouble.
Quinn is a very very scorned man right now. He feels many people turned their back on him. With that in mind look for him to stick it up Rahms and Rauners back sides every way he can before he is out. Many appointments can happen in the next month.
- Quiet Sage - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:01 am:
From the point of view of the national movement to raise the minimum wage, this isn’t a bad outcome at all. Chicago’s increase to $13 will have a much greater national impact than the more modest proposed Statewide increase which failed.
- Del Clinkton - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:04 am:
Bruce was and is for Bruce. He’s no different than Pat, Rod, George, the Jim’s, Dan, and the rest of the gang.
- Commander Norton - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:07 am:
After more than five years in office, Pat Quinn still doesn’t have a grasp of things. First he’s waiting around on Madigan. Then he’s hurrying up and waiting for the Senate. The Senate has been chomping at the bit to do this thing from the beginning - so much so that they took a completely symbolic vote yesterday. Quinn seems to be lashing out blindly in his last weeks.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:08 am:
Give it up. I supported Pat for years but he is not relevant at all now. Find some nice consulting job and retire. It is done.
- Walter Mitty - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:08 am:
Del… Time will tell… I would rather be glass full… Until it’s empty. I am hoping for all of us, I am right. No politics.
- Amalia - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:09 am:
@One Man @ GBR at this time of the year, I recall my childhood in the hills of Pennsylvania, thankful for the five friends with whom I drink heavily, the sound of a vulture calling for a kill, the pols for whom I shill……..
- Mouthy - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:19 am:
The minimum wage will not be called. The Democrat supporting voters will have one in Chicago while the Republican supporting working poor and entry level workers will suffer under the current rate. If they complain then Democrats need merely to point to the Governor elect as being opposed to an increase and suggest complainants take up the issue with him. Governor Rauner might find himself in the position of being pressured to get the rest of the state an increase. Wouldn’t that be funny.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:20 am:
I wish Madigan would stop being so altruistic and thoughtful of the voters and lawmaking, and start playing politics and holding onto power once in a while.
- walker - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:23 am:
Sneed got it completely wrong.
There was never a chance the GA would override Chicago’s home rule on this issue. Therefore, this was no “sop to Rahm”.
Amazing what losers will come up with by way of rationalization.
The stage is now set to deal with Rauner on the issue. It won’t go away.
- A guy... - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:24 am:
A very nice and decent man suffers a final indignity under a dome not at all known for nicety or decency. He may be the principal reason this never had a chance. The showmanship behind making it look as if it did was something to behold.
Now, about that public mandate that was fostered through referendum….hmmm.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:25 am:
=== Chicago’s increase to $13 will have a much greater national impact than the more modest proposed Statewide increase which failed. ===
Quiet Sage might be on to something, mathematically.
If Chicago’s “$13 by ‘19″ becomes the new national standard, at least for metropolitan areas, it will have a broader impact.
Also, I suspect there will be a push in Cook County to raise the minimum wage now, following the model of the smoking ban.
Businesses in the city are going to be worried about how they compete over price for customers, and businesses in the suburbs are going to be worried about how they compete over price for the best workers.
The Daily Herald has a good story that brings some of these stories to light.
“Some suburban small-business owners near the Chicago border aren’t concerned — for now — about losing workers when the Chicago minimum wage rises from $8.25 to $10 an hour in July 2015. It will then gradually increase to $13 an hour by 2019. The hourly wage for tip workers will rise from $4.95 to $5.95 an hour.
But other suburban business owners worry about the higher costs of providing competitive salaries down the road.”
@_OldYellerDem
- CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:27 am:
Kinda makes you wish for the good old days when Royko, Steve Neal, Aaron Gold…heck even Kup every once in while … would inform and/or entertain…now it is all Kassamoron, Sneed and reheated Capt. Fax in Crains.
- cassiopeia - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:37 am:
The last time Quinn was in office and was scorned by the voters, on his way out of the Treasurers office he fired many of his exempt staff….because he could. Never quite sure why he did that.
39 days left.
- Del Clinkton - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 10:43 am:
I remember Kup and him asking “Is Carol Channing in town?”
- Mokenavince - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 11:14 am:
Pat Quinn’s done, let’s pass a minimum wage that gets it right the first time.
The people want it raised, with the exception of the 1% er’s and Rush Limbaugh.
Bad economics I don’t think so. We are Illinois, and were never part of the Confederacy.
- Very Fed Up - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 11:27 am:
Perhaps he could try withholding Madigans paycheck until he calls a vote? He bragged about doing so throughout the election cycle, why not try again?
- DuPage - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 11:36 am:
Quinn said he was put here to cut pensions, and we see how that is working out, in fact that probably lost him the election. Nobody listened to him much before the election, now that he lost, they won’t be listening to him at all. He might as well go on vacation, just leave the keys under the mat for Rauner.
- crazybleedingheart - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 11:40 am:
So now Rahm has moved on to hosing the rest of the state. Got it.
- anon - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 11:40 am:
Didn’t the Speaker put the minimum wage question on the ballot? The people overwhelmingly supported it. So why doesn’t the Speaker do what the people asked him to after he asked them what they wanted?
- Say It Ain't So!! - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 12:30 pm:
The people overwhelmingly (63.65%) supported an additional 3% tax on income greater than one million dollars. What’s the chance Governor Bruce will call that up for a vote?
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 12:52 pm:
Oh, well, if its a ‘Flat Denial’ then….
Let me say, in Quinn’s defense, what kind of a qualification is “top Sneed source”?
Not top official within the Quinn administration, leading Democratic lawmaker, City Democratic leader…
Just, “top Sneed source.”
Could be someone with the Garcia campaign, GOP leader…I mean, does any other journalist get away with that?
It is an opinion that we are asked to accept based on Sneed’s personal opinion of her source.
At the end of the day, it’s just Sneed’s personal opinion.
- Arizona Bob - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 1:50 pm:
The voters overwhelmingly supported a tax increase that they wouldn’t have to pay, and a wage increase for someone else, PAID by someone else, that they weren’t smart enough to figure out would raise their prices and take food off their families’ tables.
If there’s a better example of the voter mindset that got Illinois into the deep trouble it’s in, I’d like to hear it.
- cover - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 1:53 pm:
= The people overwhelmingly (63.65%) supported an additional 3% tax on income greater than one million dollars. What’s the chance Governor Bruce will call that up for a vote? =
The Governor has no role in the constitutional amendment process. It requires a 3/5 majority in each chamber to put an amendment proposal on the next general election ballot. Try this question instead:
“The people overwhelmingly (63.65%) supported an additional 3% tax on income greater than one million dollars. What’s the chance Speaker Madigan will call that up for a vote?”
- dupage dan - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 2:10 pm:
Well, it’s nice to know Madigan cares about other folk.
- Enviro - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 2:12 pm:
Quiunn will serve until the last hour of the last day of his term as governor to serve the people and pass the minimum wage increase. This will put more money into the paychecks of people who are most likely to put the money right back into the economy buying goods and services. Consumer spending drives the economy.
- dupage dan - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 2:52 pm:
Enviro - with respect - have you just arrived in Illinois? Quinn can’t pass MWI bill, he can only sign once it has passed. The lame duck session has closed. No more GA meetings until the next assembly and gov are sworn in. No more legislation will be passed that Quinn will be able to sign. Or pass, for that matter.
- Enviro - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 4:24 pm:
Quinn can call a special session and try to convince the GA to pass a minimum wage bill. Of course I know that he can’t pass the bill, only sign it if the GA votes to pass that bill or any other bill.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Dec 4, 14 @ 8:27 pm:
Quinn feels some people have turned on him? What a laugh. Many of those who put him in office would say he turned on them. And they showed him how much they appreciated that.