27 Comments - lake county democrat - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 11:07 am: “What? Gov. Quinn has received about $1.6 million from SEIU alone. Hynes has reported at least $375,000 from unions this week” Nice preview of the future of federal politics — no direct contributions, but every radio ad will be by a corporation or union funded PAC. - Knome Sane - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 11:11 am: Speaking of Union support, see the attached article on the Brosnahan vacancy: http://www.southtownstar.com/news/election/2018200,012910noshow.article - Will County Woman - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 11:28 am: I was pleased that pretty much all media coverage on the WVON discussion have rightly pointed out the Quinn-Kelley connection. I am even more pleased with the context that the Sun-Times gave this morning. It’s interesting, but not surprising, that we haven’t heard any whining from Dan Hynes about what happened yesterday. And that’s a good thing. Clearly Hynes was a set-up, which is the conclusion that pretty much all of the media drew, and therefore Quinn didn’t win anything from yesterday. To some, he came off sounding good, but it was set-up for him to do just that. In fact Quinn actually comes out looking pretty bad overall… If I’m in the Quinn camp I don’t like the Sun-Times’ honest slant of what happened yesterday, nor do I like the fact that all media have pretty much revealed that Quinn was helped by Kelley. More people, a very broad cross-section, read the sun-times online and in print than listen to Cliff Kelley at 4pm, let alone throughout his evening drive time. He may not want to admit it because of his ego, but his listenership is not all that huge. He’s ranked 38th in his time slot. What happened yesterday just highlights how truly dishonest Pat Quinn is. And wait, for those who gave him the benefit of the doubt on the Trib story about his cashing in on his campaign, the next day the Trib had him saying that he would close the account. That let me know that there was something to that Trib story, and I was happy that they ran with it the first place. The more pat quinn keeps up the “racism” harangue against Hynes, the more Quinn loses support, particularly among whites, and even blacks too. He’s actaully forcing black people to look at the Washington ad. And when they do they typically come away thinking for themselves that the ad is not racist. The stuff about Hynes and his dad doesn’t register. It hasn’t. I’m sure quinn will be harping on the Washington ad this weekend, I say GREAT! Please do. - CircularFiringSquad - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 11:36 am: Capt. Fax…How about the new sentence for ERV? Very explosive Who will he rat out to stay out of the can this time…..Folks could be bees worrying..Yikes - siriusly - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 11:58 am: I agree with WCW, Quinn looks desperate and I think he is. - ralph - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 12:19 pm: Agreed that we have to be careful not to overstate the importance of the WVON debate given Cliff Kelley’s bias and the small audience. Still, it was in many ways Pat Quinn’s best hour of the campaign — and I think it’s obvious why. Quinn has spent 35 years in politics as a bomb thrower…a pol who has been effective politically and most comfortable personally when rattling the cages of the people in charge. He simply does not have the political DNA to be the man in charge himself. That has been evident in the governing mistakes he has made. But it has also been evident in his inability to play defense on the campaign trail. He’s been the hunter his entire career, not the hunted. So when he’s been backed into a corner he reacts with arrogance and anger, like he did in the Chicago Tonight debate, instead of well-reasoned counter arguements. Now that the polls show he might be losing, he’s become a better politician in the last few days — the underdog once again. In a lot of ways, the 20 point-plus lead Quinn had in this campaign was the worse thing that happened to him. If it was a close contest from the start, he might have been able to portray himself as the outsider all Fall and Winter…the guy fighting against the son of a machine politician and the “combine.” He would have been a more effective campaigner under that senario, even though it would have been based on a lot of b.s. - Loop Lady - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 12:24 pm: WCW: it’s sad you can’t admit that Hynes got trounced yesterday…he played the race card first with the Harold ad, and now that he’s got his feet to the fire you are overly sympathetic…this is politics…don’t dish it out if ya can’t take it…your guy is going down on Tuesday, deservedly so…SEIU/other union folks will be out in force this weekend… - anon - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 12:38 pm: I assume Loop Lady doesn’t realize that Hynes has as much or more union support as Quinn does with SEIU. I would assume that the labor support Hynes has will be out just as much as SEIU is for Quinn. And Hynes ad is not racial. It’s sad that we haven’t even gotten to a point where the words of an African American can’t be used without making it about race. Give it up. Quinn is the one who’s made this a racial thing, especially with Bobby Rush out there doing his typical race baiting. - VanillaMan - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 12:46 pm: I will be interested in discovering what the Quinn campaign was thinking regarding this primary. Did they fail to sense that time was not on their side? Did they somehow believe that Hynes was such a poor candidate that the Governor didn’t have to worry? How the Quinn campaign handled this primary demonstrates a lack of awareness with Illinois voters. Even if they somehow pull this off, it will be interesting to research just how the Quinn campaign got this messed up. Quinn had the longest honeymoon in gubernatorial history. How he could have imagined that 2010 would be a repeat of 2009 regarding his public image during our fiscal crisis, I just don’t buy. Did the Democrats expect to sandbag him with all the ugly solutions facing us, so they didn’t help him out? He got their endorsements, but he didn’t seem to get a smart campaign staff. We’ve seen some talent among his media staffers, but which of his staffers failed to foresee how this primary would challenge Quinn, and head these challenges off back in November? It might be just me, but I have not been surprised by what has happened over the past six months. Even when it looked like Hynes was going comatose and had his political support team flubbing how the Comptroller injected politics into his state duties, which soured his image - time was not on a governor’s side when that governor sat on his hands as Quinn has over the past year. Now comes the ribbon cuttings? In the dead of winter? Now comes the skilled defenses of his year in office? Since August, we saw anti-government and anti-incumbancy upend state elections in November. What gives Quinn people? Sloppy! Sloppy! Democrats need to avoid a candidate like Quinn this year. Time is not his friend. - cassandra - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 12:51 pm: I don’t think the AFSCME raise was cut, just delayed. No layoffs, no pay cuts, voluntary furloughs only. A lot of folks will be able to make up lost pay on the voluntary furlough days by working time and one half overtime on other days. So, in some ways, the furlough days will be more costly. Quinn got taken for a ride in this union agreement. Or maybe he was a willing rider. - Will County Woman - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 1:05 pm: Loop lady apparently didn’t read my post yesterday in which I stated that pat quinn won, but of course I didn’t entirely know then what I know now, thanks to the Sun-Times and other media. So, no. I cannot concluded today that Hynes was “trounced.” Hynes was set-up by Quinn-Kelley come off looking bad, and admittedly he did. The Suntimes has this headline: Quinn, talk host team up on Hynes in radio debate Comptroller grilled by Kelley on ad, stands his ground Then to read about Quinn needing to be propped up by black men like Kelley etc. just makes Quinn look/seem weak, whereas Hynes looks like a man who stood his ground against the team-up. So there is no real victory in yesterday for Quinn. Ralph, it can hardly be his “finest” hour if it was orchestrated to be just that. It’s not like he had to work at it and came about “his finest hour” as a result of his own merit or ability to do so. And, I’m gonna come back to you on this. Bottom line is that it was all contrived, it was political theater; Quinn was propped up. In reading the post coverage of it no reasonably intellgient person comes away thinking otherwise. Ralph I agree with you to an extent about the underdog thing, but I think it no holds for him. Once he sought to be slated he kinda did away his ability to argue that he is the “underdog” in any real sense. Also in rattling off all of the black pols who support him, he proves that he is no underdog here. The machine is supporting him. I get what you’re saying about the fast and furious attempt to come from behind and pull it off. He also runs a very serious risk in that. And I won’t go into detail on that because I don’t want to tip his side off. Suffice it to say that I think he has done considerable damage to his brand in the past year, and won’t be able to carry the honest reformer mantle through to November. I think a good part of his base has taken a look at him as governor and have not recognized him. I’ve held off on making any public predicitions about this race because anything can happen. - Little Lebowski Urban Achiever - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 1:12 pm: WCW, not a particularly good attempt at spin. Cliff Kelley drives public opinion in the African American community. I’ve been hearing that the races doing tracking polls in the AA community have seen Hynes’ negatives shoot up and Quinn’s hold steady. We’ll find out on Feb 2nd, but all the anecdotal evidence so far suggests Quinn has pushed back hard and strong where the ad could have hurt him most. There is a reason Dan’s closing ad is entirely positive. People are turned off by the negative campaign he’s running and the latest ad is a desperate attempt to boost his sinking positives. Most campaigns don’t change traffic with in the week before the election unless their tracking is telling them something is going wrong. Your closing strategy is usually set weeks in advance. IMHO, Quinn’s ads close much stronger than Dan’s. Dan direct to camera doesn’t work well. - Will County Woman - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 1:21 pm: “Cliff Kelley drives public opinion in the African American community.” Cliff and you want to believe that, but its not true. For some reason, and i don’t know why, people seem to think that black people are mindless children who cannot think for themselves, but need some self-professed black leader to do their thinking for them. I don’t hold that view, and I’m not sure why anyone does. Since you brought it up, and I can’t ask Cliff Kelley why he does, I’ll ask you. Why do you hold the view that black people are mindless or childlike people who cannot think for themselves? Please answer, because this gets to the very heart of this discussion about the Washington and Burr Oak ads. - Will County Woman - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 1:28 pm: p.s. here’s what we’re in effect getting from the quinn camp: so and so will try to tell you XYZ, but don’t you believe him…he’s being racist and divisive blah blah blah… in doing/saying that the Quinn camp is trying to lead people to a particular conclusion. if you’re trying to lead people am I correct that is it because you fear that they won’t reach a particular conclusion, the one you want, on their own? But from the hynes camp: we’re getting something to the effect of: based on what you have seen of Quinn’s leadership and time as governor listen to/watch this and if you agree with what this person is saying - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 1:32 pm: - people seem to think that black people are mindless children who cannot think for themselves, but need some self-professed black leader to do their thinking for them - This from the same person who earlier today said that as long as a black candidate was doing well, the black voters wouldn’t care which one it was. - Big Policy Nerd - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 1:41 pm: If you listened to yesterday’s debate you got a real sense of who is in touch with the African American community. Quinn knew his audience because he has a history of working with these people in their respective communities. I am not sure who Hynes can claim he has a positive relationship with since no elected officials of color have publicly said that the Harold Washington ad did not have racial undertones. Look at the endorsements and decide who you want on your side. PQ: Kwame Raoul, Will Burns, Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson Jr and Sr, the Reverend Senator Meeks…. DH: Perennial Candidate “Doc” Walls - Will County Woman - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 2:15 pm: STL… that point was about the voting on racial lines dynamic when there are choices between black candidates ( a white candidate (e.g., the cook county race. sorry that I didn’t articulate that very well yesterday. BNP, not all black pols have come out in support of Quinn against the Washington ad. I’m not suggesting that they are necessarily keeping mum because they like it. But, I do suspect that there are some who are just not bothered by it. I think the fact that many have not come out to join in the anti-hynes movement should give you some cause to pause and think about why that may be. Again the reasons are likely varied. I think its worth noting that the black pols who have come out in support of Quinn on this were already endorsing him, so their not exactly neutral or independent here. I don’t the Quinn camp can quanitfy this anymore than I can. I think Quinn and his camp have misjudged here on several levels, to the point where they overplayed it instead of just playing it safe. I also yesterday’s WVON discussion was over-the-top and unnecessary. Had the discussion been more fair and balanced and Quinn made his case well, then ok. But it was skewed in his favor from the moment it was scheduled, and that adds to the kinda circus-like feel to it. - Perspective - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 2:43 pm: It will interesting to see how Quinn fits on on all those palm cards Tuesday: Quinn/Stroger, Quinn/Preckwinkle, Quinn/Brown, Quinn/Jackson, Quinn/Burnett, Quinn/White. Could get a little confusing, especially if Alexi and Hoffman are handing out their own and if Ricky and Art have their preferred versions. I did notice he’s not on the Rev. Samson’s soul slate. Interesting. - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 2:44 pm: WCW - What you were saying was that as long as black voters thought a black candidate, nevermind which one, was doing ok, they wouldn’t feel compelled to go out of their way to vote. Thats the same as saying black voters don’t care about a candidates positions as long as they are black. Spin it all you want, thats what you said. - wordslinger - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 2:57 pm: I understand the predictable spin, but the Harold ad is not racially provocative in any way. Harold’s a historic figure, for sure, but many still remember the man when he was alive. He goes off on Quinn pretty good. Not for any black or white reasons, either. Harold was the boss and Quinn didn’t cut the mustard. It’s very relevant stuff. Put it this way, if there’s ever a documentary on Quinn, the Harold interview will be front and center. - Did You Expect A Miracle? - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 3:17 pm: I have watched/read the Blog for weeks as the gubernatorial campaign became more heated, and feel that I finally must comment. In a couple of hours from now, Pat Quinn will hit the one year mark as Governor. Did you expect a miracle? It was and still is one of the worst economic times in U.S. History, not just in Illinois but across the nation. Quinn followed two corrupt predecessors that created a lack of trust in government. Illinois had/has a huge budget deficit. The challenges are too long to list but what did the people of this state do a year ago? We saddled Pat Quinn with “hope” and expected him to wave a magic wand to make it all better. Much like the American public expected Obama to turn the country around and provide health care, jobs, and homes for all in 365 days. This is what Dan Hynes has used against Pat Quinn - he didn’t fix the state in less than a year. Come on folks, be realistic! It’s not the Governor’s job alone! It takes the Legislators, the constitutional officers (even Hynes), the Unions, the employees, the special interest groups and even the general public to give a little; but few have. I will agree that sometimes Quinn comes up with some “crazy” ideas. I’ve also seen those crazy ideas turn out to be “brilliant” and “ahead of their time”. Pat Quinn was “green” way before green was cool - pushing for sustainability issues. (The green campaign signs signify more than his Irish background.) He created the Broadband Deployment Council to bring awareness of internet connectivity needs for all areas of the state. (Ever tried to get online in deep Southern Illinois or even 10 miles out of town?) He worked to get laptops to school children who couldn’t afford them. He initiated legislation to put automatic external difibulators in all schools, public buildings and athletic facilities. (That’s the thing that restarts your heart, folks.) He is well-known for his efforts for our troops and veterans and has brought honor to those who died since 911 with the “Portraits of a Soldier” exhibits. He’s attended nearly every Illinois soldier’s funeral or wake when the best Rod Blagojevich could do was hold up Senator Vince DeMuzio’s funeral service. Though his LTG budget was small, Quinn made grants to support local Farmer’s Markets and as GOV passed legislation to support Illinois products. Like any business in financial trouble and scores of cities around the country, Quinn tried to cut staff and decrease the payroll burden, but the Unions wouldn’t let him do it. He tried to save money by consolidating agencies, but the Legislators wouldn’t let him do it. They laughed at his idea of property tax relief several years ago and made sure increased taxes on our wealthiest citizens didn’t pass but now Dan Hynes has adopted the idea as his own! The problem with Pat Quinn is his personal principles outweigh his politics. It’s about time we had a leader who feels this way. No doubt there are democrats that dismiss him and republicans that like him. That’s because he is his own man, and knows he puts his pants on the same way you and I do. As LTG he shunned a security detail (the constitution requires it as Governor) and drove through fast food restaurants for a cheeseburger. His suits and shoes are worn out before replaced. He loves basketball and baseball, has a “rain-man” sense of historical facts and figures, and works long hours into the night. His 90 year old mother’s advice to him a year ago today was “make sure to get some sleep”. Yes, times are still tough and are likely to be so for a while. No Governor elected, Democrat or Republican, is going to change that. And Pat Quinn shouldn’t have been expected to change it in 365 days. Shame on us for thinking so! WE must make the miracle. WE must be open to new (and sometimes “crazy”) ideas. WE must work together. And WE must support our leaders, especially in the tough times. Only then will the state of Illinois, once again, be great. - Will County Woman - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 3:18 pm: “Thats the same as saying black voters don’t care about a candidates positions as long as they are black. ” STL, as ugly/unfair as that is, and as much as I wish it were not true there is ample scientific evidence about blacks (largely) voting along racial lines when the race involves a black candidate and a white candidate. I agree that no all blacks do vote along racial lines, but the evidence is overwhelming that most in fact do. The Quinn/Hynes issue is a little tricky to assess. Even after the election results are in will exit polling have been done to know for sure if the ads helped or hurt one or both candidates? I think Quinn will get more black votes than Hynes, but something tells me that it won’t be a blowout. By blowout I mean the Obama/Keyes race percentage point numbers. - Team Sleep - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 4:00 pm: Perhaps Quinn’s impending implosion will be a good lesson to future incumbents. When in doubt, don’t put off pressing matters and, if necessary, make some difficult decisions. While that certainly isn’t the popular political advice, a candidate is poorly served by his or her government and political staffs if those staff members fail to realize the true implications of voter anger. 6 years of Blago and a record deficit in Illinois have made people angry, and Quinn may very well suffer the consequences. - Will County Woman - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 4:14 pm: Did You Expect A Miracle? No. of course not! he’s human; he’s not perfect; he’s trying; and, he means well..ok. I got all that. And for what it is worth Hynes has stated that no one expected Quinn to do it all in the time he has had. Hynes has said that in their debates as well. I like Hynes more because I find myself in agreement with him way more than I do Quinn on just about everything. To be sure there are many things that Quinn cannot control (e.g., the national economy and its impact at the state government level), but he can control himself and how he governs, as well as the decisions he makes. And he has absolute control over those things. I agree with Hynes that unfortunately things have gotten worse under Quinn, instead of better. In my view Quinn is overwhelmed in the role of governor. His decisions have not been good/effective, and in many cases have been to the detriment of Illinois. he does not have the proper temperament for the job. of course being governor is high-pressure, very political, intense at times, rewarding, tedious and extremely demanding etc. let’s be honest here many people don’t have the right temperament for the job. he seems to want to make people happy, and wants to be liked, which makes him reluctant to say no when it comes to funding. (BTW that’s extremely dangerous given our fiscal current and projected situation through FY13) he’s not disciplined or focused when it comes to governing. It was clear from day one that when he assumed the office he had not made a plan for himself or his administration. The first PRESS CONFERENCE he held was at Rev. Meeks’ church at which he proclaimed that education would be his focus. Then the next day or so under his administration it was gonna be the year of reform. Then the next day he was the jobs governor then he was the this or that governor. I won’t go into the flip-flopping on just about every decision he needed to make. And more recently we see that same unfocused/erratic behavior carry through his state of the state. It was aimless/unfocused. So, in a year he hadn’t made any changes on how he conducts himself as governor? Why not? Is it because he refuses to accept any reponsibility and admit any mistakes? As a result he’s never really going to be able to progress, let alone lead this state toward progress. If you don’t think you’re doing anything wrong, then you don’t believe that you need to fix anything. It’s frustrating and disappointing as an Illinois resident to see someone like that in a leadership role, especially during a time of crisis. I’m gathering that in his mind admitting to mistakes and failures is a sign of weakness. ok. but, where just under 13 million people are concerned that is dishonest. We need someone who can be honest with himself and us. you can’t have your cake and eat it too: you can’t tell us you’ve made no mistakes and then expect us to not fault you for your mistakes and hold them against you. With Quinn I don’t know where are going. I do know that the deficit has gone from $9billion to roughly $12billion since Quinn took office. That’s not the way we need to go, right now or in the forseeable future. He’s putting us two steps back for every one step forward. these are tough times and he’s not demostrated, to me, that he can tough, especially when it comes to fiscal matters. Everytime he says “everybody in and nobody left out,” i cringe because it is tax-and-spend liberal gobbledygook! we cannot afford to be spending money that we don’t have to spend. and we can’t just keep borrowing and raiding funds aka muddling our way through because it only increases the overall hole we are in financially. stop with the band-aid and just go get the operation already! is it possible that he could be a good governor? sure. but at this time and in this economic crisis situation he’s not right for the governor’s office. this is not to knock him as a person, but this is business. - Jaded - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 4:16 pm: Quinn and his supporters have no room to talk about Hynes using Washinton. Quinn has dropped Paul Simon’s name on several occasion regarding ethics and he was working for Walker and against Simon in 1972. The Washington thing is “golden” for Hynes. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. - Louis G. Atsaves - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 4:53 pm: ===The problem with Pat Quinn is his personal principles outweigh his politics.=== Now that he is completely in bed with Chicago Democratic Machine politicians who are donating/loaning heavily to his campaign? Where are his personal principles here? - Stuck with Sen. CPA - Friday, Jan 29, 10 @ 11:26 pm: Did I Expect A Miracle? No, I expected some Competency. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.