A look ahead
Friday, Nov 5, 2010 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Pat Quinn loves him some Michael Sneed, and he gave her an exclusive interview for today’s paper…
Amongst Quinn’s running mates on the state Dem ticket were those who treated him as “toxic and did not want to have their pictures taken with me,” he said.
“It was hard to take watching them shy away, but in the end we had the connection to ordinary people and that’s what counted. It has all been inspiring.”
From yesterday’s Sneed…
Click. Click. Nix pix. Sneed hears failed U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias felt Gov. Quinn was so toxic weeks before the election, he steered away from posing in pix with him until just before the election.
It wasn’t just Giannoulias, however. Quinn has been upset for months that legislative Democrats with anything close to a tough race refused to go anywhere near him. Considering how badly Quinn was beaten Downstate, that’s quite understandable. And while he won the Cook County suburbs, he was never anywhere near 50 percent, so he was seen as a needless drag. Legislative leaders prefer to position their candidates in isolation during years like this. But Quinn thought that meant they despised him. It wasn’t personal, it was just business.
* For instance, Brady had some coattails in Decatur…
Though the Decatur area will feel the effects of a number of statewide elections, the ousting of state Rep. Bob Flider might mean the most significant change for the city and the Illinois House district that includes most of it. […]
Flider’s defeat means Decatur will no longer have any Democratic representation in the General Assembly
Flider wanted nothing to do with Quinn during the campaign. I can’t hardly blame him.
* And check this out…
Gov. Pat Quinn and Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias did not win a single precinct within Adams County in Tuesday’s election, and U.S. Rep. Phil Hare was only able to claim one precinct.
Reports from the Adams County county clerk’s office also show that two Republican statewide candidates, Mark Kirk and Bill Brady, won all 80 precincts and collected more than 70 percent of the vote in Adams County. Kirk defeated Giannoulias in the U.S. Senate race, while Brady trails Quinn by nearly 20,000 votes despite winning 98 of the state’s 102 counties.
As expected, Bobby Schilling, the Republican candidate in the 17th U.S. House District in Illinois, received 72 percent of the vote overall and won 62 of 63 precincts the district covers in Adams County. U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, represents the other precincts.
Hare, a two-term incumbent, received less than a quarter of the vote in Adams County and won one precinct in the city of Quincy. & not; In 2006, the last time Hare faced an opponent (Andrea Zinga), he won 39 percent of the vote in Adams County and 19 precincts, all in the city of Quincy.
* Gov. Quinn won on a platform of moderate cuts, “strategic” borrowing and raising taxes. But a key component of that plan stalled again yesterday in the Senate…
Illinois senators will try again in two weeks to figure out how to make $3.75 billion in payments to state pension systems this year.
After hurriedly returning to Springfield two days after the election to address the issue, the Senate adjourned Thursday without voting on a plan to make the payment by borrowing up to $4 billion. The bill, previously approved by the House, didn’t even get a vote in committee.
* And lawmakers don’t appear to love any of the options…
Illinois also has a backlog of nearly $6 billion in unpaid bills to schools and vendors that do business with the state. Jacobs said the state has to clear its name of that debt.
“I think at the end of the day you’ve got to pay your bills,” Jacobs. “So that gives you a couple of options: You either borrow it, you raise a tax to get it or you cut something to get it.”
Thursday’s inaction on the pension bond plan appears to kick borrowing off the list.
State Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, said cuts most likely are on the horizon.
“Primarily we’re going to have to cut as much waste as we can, and we’re going to have to cut programs that are not waste but that are good programs but that we can’t afford anymore,” Haine said. “We just can’t afford some of the good things that we do.”
Public opinion polls have shown voters support cuts, but when given specific programs to cut, they balk. Same goes for an income tax increase.
“The polls indicate the people at this time do not believe a tax increase is justified,” said Haine. “So we have to have a dialogue and have them tell us what their priorities are and how we get to a state of solvency. We are in a state where we are critically in danger of being insolvent.”
* And the general feeling under the Statehouse dome yesterday was similar to this longtime subscriber’s, who wrote…
After being pounded for being incompetent and a flip-flopper, Quinn decides to spend his lunch hour [yesterday] in Chicago glad-handing voters at Manny’s Deli, rather in Springfield glad-handing senators at the session he asked Cullerton to call. I know they didn’t have the votes, but it might have been nice to send the message that he was engaged on the solutions he proposed.
The really frustrating thing is that Quinn is probably going to take this election as some kind of mandate and vindication of his governance, management style and all-around brilliance, rather than realizing that he got very lucky, and that a lot of people pitched in and helped even though they were upset with his leadership. I count myself among them.
It’s going to be a long four years.
Yes, it is. Without a doubt.
- Dan Johnson-Weinberger - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:14 pm:
I think the mandate is that a plurality of Illinois voters prefer an income tax increase to large spending cuts.
- Nick42 - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:20 pm:
The mandate is that the line, “it’s the economy, stupid” doesn’t apply when running against an extreme social conservative in a relatively progressive state. Or maybe it doesn’t apply when the conservative doesn’t outline a feasible economic plan.
I feel like if Sen. Brady didn’t come out with a “10% across the board” cuts, and instead just spoke about major cuts in bureaucratic spending/waste, he could have won this. But I’m actually not sure.
Regardless - no mandate for Quinn. Moderate voters simply didn’t want the other guy.
- Nick42 - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:24 pm:
And seriously, can the Quinn campaign really take credit for this?
It was the GOTV operation of the coordinated campaign, largely helped by Alexi/Durbin, that won it for Quinn. Ironic.
Alexi ran a great campaign against a perfect candidate and lost in a squeaker; Quinn ran an awful campaign against an horrendous candidate and won in an even small squeaker, but now he feels like it was all him. That commenter was right - he and his campaign got extremely lucky but won’t and don’t realize it.
- Louis XVI - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:30 pm:
Quinn will sit upon a throne propped up by voters who intensely dislike both his performance and his policies. There is no mandate there.
- Newsclown - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:33 pm:
I wonder how vindictive a person Quinn might be, now that he’s the legit governor for four years, there are all these members that stiffed him, all those counties that didn’t come thru for him… a mean spirited guy might stop showing up with the big cardboard checks at a lot of those places, and stop inviting a lot of folks to big ribbon-cuttings and such. Especially if he’s decided secretly to be a one-termer and do what the heck he likes… I think if you’ve got to make painful cuts, the first ones to feel those cuts will be the ones that didn’t stand by you when you needed them.
- Anonymous - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:39 pm:
On the bright side, I am looking forward to four more years of the “Pat Quinn’s Brain” Twitter feed.
- lake county democrat - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:51 pm:
Come on, Pat — here’s your shot at redemption and YOU KNOW you want to stick it to Madigan after he left you for dead.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:52 pm:
=== after he left you for dead.===
MJM didn’t totally leave him for dead. He contributed $250K a week or so before the election.
- Responsa - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 1:54 pm:
Newsclown, can’t dispute the points you make or any of the questions you ask. But that whole paragraph perfectly captures what normal people regularly see, and thoroughly despise about politicians. Especially Illinois politicians. It’s always about THEM.
- OneMan - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:00 pm:
== “I think at the end of the day you’ve got to pay your bills,” Jacobs. “So that gives you a couple of options: You either borrow it, you raise a tax to get it or you cut something to get it.” ==
At the end of the day, that’s it. The question is going to be who ends up having to how much of what.
- Corduroy Bob - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:05 pm:
Read the whole Sneed thing — it’s vintage Quinn. I love the way he’s always able to seamlessly roll moralizing, shaming, tut-tutting, self-pitying and self-aggrandizing into one psuedo-coherent message. And Pat, never forget the weirdly reflexive call-out to the military! Huzzah!
- zatoichi - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:09 pm:
Jacobs left off Option 4: Hold off paying long enough so that the group who is owed the money is no longer around.
- Hit me with your rythm stick - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:26 pm:
I didn’t vote for Quinn or Brady or Green or Whitney or Cohen in the guv’s race. Quinn has performed poorly over the past two years, and has shown no leadership whatsoever. If there is any consolation to Quinn’s return it is Mike Madigan’s return. In old ironside Mike Madigan I trust to ensure that there is some sanity in Springfield.
Quinn won by less than 1 percent, with roughly 3million votes cast, in a state of 13million. I understand not all are eligible to vote. But, winning by less than 1 percent is not a mandate in my view. I do not support a tax increase or school surcharge or whatever he was calling it. Those who voted for him should pay the tax increase or school surcharge. Let them all shoulder the tax increase—let’s see how they like it. Unrealistic? Sure, but something tells me if that were to happen the election would all of sudden swing Brady’s way. Too late–he’s conceded. Meh.
Quinn should not be vindictive toward his party members and counties that did not support him. Instead, he needs to realize that his leadership failings caused many to shun him and not vote for him. He must now work harder than ever to gain the trust of his skeptics and non-supporters. The last two years of his poor leadership were his fault and no one else’s. And his need to work hard, starts today not tomorrow. Pat Quinn don’t even think about holding and inaugural ball. He and everyone else in state government needs to get to work! I also don’t want to hear any more excuses from him going foward.
He’s been elected, he has the Lt. Gov he wanted, and he still has a dem majority in the GA.
- Nick42 - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:41 pm:
“I didn’t vote for Quinn or Brady or Green or Whitney or Cohen in the guv’s race.”
So who did you vote for??
I know it’s rude to ask, but you did outline who you didn’t vote for… I’m just curious who else was left!
- ChrisChicago82-Independent - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:44 pm:
“I think the mandate is that a plurality of Illinois voters prefer an income tax increase to large spending cuts.”
I am afraid Governor Quinn is going to see it that exact same way. The truth, in many others eyes (including mine) is that a plurality of IL voters prefer tax increases to both a social conservative FAR to the right of the IL norm and a lack of economic specifics (give Quinn one thing: compared to Brady, the man had details in describing what had to be done).
Take care.
- Rod - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:57 pm:
Ok now that Senator Brady has called it a day we are still faced with the State being broke. While Senate Minority Leader Radogno’s logic is impeccable when she said: “The state has no money, so we’re going to borrow, we are out of money, we’re going to borrow money and we’re just going to hope the tax increase passes and the economy picks up.”
But her logic fails her if she honestly believes at this point in the budget year that $3.75 billion in additional cuts can be made. Some how I do not think the good people of Lemont that Senator Radogno represents would want to see the Heritage Woodland Scantuary, a native habitat restoration project done in conjunction
with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources closed would they? Would they want to see all snow plowing on State Highways stopped, would they want the Heritage Corridor Line abandoned and all state support for Metra eliminated, possibly revoke the RTA Act altogether while we are at it, Would they want many other state services elminated.
Very easy for Radogno to talk about cutting in the abstract, not so easy to talk about cutting things that impact Lemont.
- Wally - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 2:59 pm:
So, 3 days after the election, a longtime Dem who helped in the campaign proclaims, “It is going to be a long four years.”
WOW! Lord helps us all.
- anon - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 3:44 pm:
The writer who claims the Coordinated won it for Quinn is out of touch with reality and obviously looking for a victory in what was a failure. Why did so many Congressional candidates lose? The Coordinated was all about the senate and congress. Many of their workers snubbed the Governor’s campaign and it workers. There may have been a few who were collaborative but there were not many.
- Rich Miller - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 3:46 pm:
anon, what’s that old saying about victory having a thousand fathers?
You should see my in-box. Everybody is claiming their little piece of the pie put Quinn over the top.
It’s actually everybody who should get credit. But the top Brady people have pinpointed their own culprit.
- anon - Friday, Nov 5, 10 @ 3:48 pm:
You are right, Rich. In a race this close, everything and everyone mattered.