*** UPDATE *** Gov. Quinn held a press conference today and managed to answer questions for over eight minutes without uttering a negative word about anybody. Raw audio…
Hey, it’s a start.
* By the way, Quinn told reporters today: “I think we can explore pension reform ideas that are within the bounds of our Constitution, and we plan to do that as well and we’ll be working on that in the next few months.”
Discuss.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* Via Illinois Statehouse News…
Mike Lawrence, a longtime statehouse journalist and press secretary for former Gov. Jim Edgar, said Quinn’s inability to work with lawmakers could make him irrelevant.
“There have been times when the governor and the General Assembly have had strained relations, but I don’t think we’ve seen anything like we’re seeing now,” Lawrence said.
Only during the end of Rod Blagojevich’s tenure as governor can Lawrence remember lawmakers and the governor simply ignoring each other, Lawrence said.
“There is a lack of trust of Gov. Quinn for a different reason than there was a lack of trust in Gov. Blagojevich,” Lawrence said. “The lack of trust in Quinn stems from the belief from lawmakers that the administration doesn’t have its act together.”
* Lou’s diagnosis…
Even with total Democrats in control of the statehouse, Quinn, a Democrat himself, has had a difficult time working with legislators. State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, points to the governor’s preference for bombastic public statements over one-on-one conversations with lawmakers as an example.
“There was a thought that once (Quinn) became governor … he would grab on to the job and the gravitas that comes with it” said Lang.
“He’s tried in his way to do that, but in some issues, it’s not working too well.” […]
“We need an engaged governor,” Lang said. “Not one that says, ‘Don’t pass that. It’s going to get vetoed.’”
- Louis Howe - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 6:04 am:
As Gary Hannig’s early exit last summer from IDOT indicated, Quinn’s “Top Management” staff doesn’t have a clue about how to deal with the legislature. Hannig was under-used, and never made it into the Quinn’s insiders club. What Quinn needs are experienced political advisors that are willing to standup to his erratic behavior. Instead, Quinn hires inexperienced yes-men that even after hearing the whistle blow wouldn’t see the train coming down the track.
- Chad - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 7:08 am:
Look back to the cutback amendment to see what Quinn really thinks of the legislature and legislative process. The impression is that he is another in the line of executives that believe they are all-knowing and deserving of total deference. Just can’t stand getting messy to learn what the people want when he already knows everything.
- Gregor - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 7:11 am:
Momentary gubernatorial candidate Lou Lang complaining about Quinn’s “bombastic public statements”…
(phhhttt)
….well, there went my glass of morning orange juice.
- John A Logan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 7:31 am:
Quinn has a good heart, however he is just not suited to be governor. He is simply in over his head. Pat Quinn reminds me of someone who is just learning to play pool, but struts around the table like he is Minnesota Fats.
- Wensicia - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 7:49 am:
Yet, the Tribune editorial board thinks everything Quinn does is just wonderful.
- Sue - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 7:58 am:
Experienced advisors would make little or no difference- Quinn is hopeless- never should have been allowed to be Governor- All the advisors in the world wouldn’t begin fixing the problem- The Governor spent his career throwing rocks at Springfield and has no understanding of what it takes to be an effective leader- on the budget his constant answer is “lets borrow”- Someone facing the issues we are facing who knew what he was doing would face down the public sector unions and start enacting meaningful spending and benefit reductions required to inspire confidence in the rating agencies and business
- Das Man - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:00 am:
The reports of Governor Quinns political death are greatly exaggerated. He wasn’t elected to rubber stamp legislation authored by special interest groups, which may have been coddled through the GA by sponsored sponsors. A veto threat shouldn’t be confused with “has had a difficult time working with legislators”, but rather an executive emphasis on the broader interests of the state, not the special interests who influence the GA. I don’t believe the people of Illinois are looking for just any governor who would be more willing to compromise their interests for a few pieces of silver.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:00 am:
Quinn assumed relevancy when he entered office. Then he thought he would get it when elected. He needed to earn it because the GA liked having an irrelevant governor a la Blagojevich.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:06 am:
Quinn doesn’t understand that we all still smell Blagojevich on him. He thinks we see him as clean. We really see him as naive. So he thinks we will follow him - just because he was elected.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:12 am:
If Quinn thinks his tough talk is pushing legislators away, someone needs to tell him that they were never with him to begin with. Quinn has as much electoral legitamacy as an old queen. He got lucky in 2010.
- VanillaMan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:22 am:
In closing, Quinn needs to understand that he has to become relevant and he is considered irrelevant by nearly all. We have not had a relevant governor in a decade. That changed things. Quinn was a second stringer back then and still is.
He was known in 2010 and half of the state rejected him.
- Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:35 am:
I think Quinn lacks any vision, or plan. If he has it, which I doubt, he is unable to articulate. As CEO of a business, he would drive the company into the ground. As CEO if the State, he is in danger of doing that to all of us.
BUT, I personally hope he does just enough to scare off any primary challengers. He will be wiped out in the General.
- WalletSniffer - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:48 am:
Quinn opposed utility rate hikers, He opposed reductions in gov’t oversight of utilities.
What a surprise: there is a state PR blitz saying he is ineffective; in short, not a team player.
If this was Chile of the Kissinger era or Iraq of today Quinn and his staff would be on their knees in a soccer stadium.
I support Quinn.
- OneMan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:49 am:
Das Man, the problem isn’t him vetoing stuff. The problem is…
He demonizes the legislature too much.
He should have learned from watching Rod that that approach does not work. If you veto something, you generally don’t want the veto overridden. Basically saying the legislature was bought with political donations on the issue.
He picks dumb stuff to veto at times…
Be it the road kill bill,the care act or legislative scholarships, his veto motivations at times seem illogical. Be it because legislation does not go far enough is not a reason to at least go part of the way.
The Gaming Bill
If you are going to veto any gaming expansion, be an adult and just say it. Don’t wait until a week before the veto session to say what you will approve.
AFSCME
He signs a deal with AFSCME and then signs a budget that does not fund the raise he signed. Congratulations you misunderstood governor just hosed any future multi-year deal with a government labor union in this state.
He needs them to get anything done, bottom line. He may not like them, but he needs them, in many ways they don’t need him
- Bill - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 8:59 am:
== inspire confidence in the rating agencies and business==
It is about time somebody stood up to these special interest groups. Quinn, so far, is trying to do so. “Working with the legislature” is a euphemism for doing whatever Mike Madigan says. Quinn is represnting ( or at least trying to) the people’s interests as opposed to being just another flunky for big business.
Hey Lou, if Quinn is so irrelevant how come your bought and paid for gambling bill isn’t law right now.
I like the old Pat Quinn. I hope he sticks around. If Mike and the Mushrooms don’t like it, so what?
- Sue - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:05 am:
Great Bill- sentiment like yours will lead to more business fleeing the state- you types never comprehend that the State’s success is totally dependent on a healthy business environment- Unions don’t create jobs, never have never will
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:06 am:
–Quinn is hopeless- never should have been allowed to be Governor–
Another one of those Occupy Springfielders looking to overturn elections.
I don’t think Quinn is cut out to be a strong chief executive. But I don’t think rolling over for ComEd and gambling expansion would have made him a great leader, either.
I could care less if he’s not a go-along guy with the General Assembly. There are enough Mushrooms already. They have their constitutional role, he has his. I’m more concerned with the effective management of the executive branch.
- just sayin' - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:09 am:
I disagree that Mike Lawrence “understands the problem.”
He can’t distinguish “work with” from giving away the store to a bunch of mostly inept, bloated ego, mostly dirty lawmakers who have largely failed in their legislative role at citizens’ expense.
Lawrence’s big claim to fame seems to be that he worked for a governor who mostly coasted while the economy boomed in a bubble envioronment way back in the last century. Edgar was able to spend much of his time watching the horsies.
Illinoisans are looking for adult leadership, not someone to stroke the egos of the clowns who got us into this mess. Quinn has a long way to go but occassionally he shows glimmers of hope, like on the ComEd veto.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:15 am:
–Great Bill- sentiment like yours will lead to more business fleeing the state- –
Way to go, Bill.
Sue, put some facts to it, or put it away. The truth of the matter is, you can’t. No nattering nabobs of negativism anecdotes, but macroeconomic facts. And be sure to support your causal relationships.
You did see the bit, yesterday, that 67% of Illinois corporations don’t pay any state income tax? Are they fleeing?
- Cal Skinner - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:19 am:
Surely the legislature’s relationship with Gov. Dan Walker, Quinn’s mentor, bears some examination.
Veto sessions then were called “veto override” sessions.
- Dirty Red - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:20 am:
Just sayin’ -
Lawrence gets it. If you ever get the chance, ask him what he thinks of Pat Quinn when there isn’t an on-the-record reporter present.
- Alexander Cut The Knot - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:24 am:
“just saying’” Edgar came in with the Emergency Budget Act and had to immediately cut - all agencies had to cut. It wasn’t all wine and roses for all years. Standing up to special interest groups must mean more than saying no or constantly questioning the motives and ethics of the opposition (even if they are questionable) - it is actually coming up with a plan and effectively working “with” opposing interest to advance what is possible, and then not giving up to advance what is possible a little further each year. You can’t do that if you burn bridges first and then try to cross the abyss.
- Bill - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:30 am:
==Unions don’t create jobs==
No, but their members have to do the jobs. Why shouldn’t the people who do the actual work get fairly compensated. Corporate greed is what’s ruining the quality of life in this state not the modest demands of the working class. Take a look at corporate bonuses showered on the “job creators” while they horde cash and reap enormous profits that we, the “job doers”, have to pay for.
Sitting in a plush chair in some posh corporate office is not work.
But that’s OK. Just continue to shill for the corporate fat cats. In the end, there are a lot more of us then there are of them.
- reformer - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:56 am:
Cinci
Thanks for confirming that you (and your DuPage pals?) want Quinn on the ballot in November 2014. I think Democrats are smart enough to take out an unpopular governor who revels in attacking his fellow Democrats.
- Plutocrat03 - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:56 am:
“Sitting in a plush chair in some posh corporate office is not work”
Of course if you are a union boss, you get the comfy chair, posh office, fancy car, union pension, government pension…… and still don’t have to work.
- dupage dan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 10:01 am:
A democrat as governor fighting a democratic GA. What’s to make of that? Is the GA totally corrupt? Can Quinn effectively govern with the veto pen? Or must he get his hands dirty in the GA and mix it up?
Quinn’s always been a press release bomb thrower - that’s his MO. Hard to change that. So, that will be his strategy. Doesn’t seem to be working too well right now. Some symbolic wins of minor value but that’s about it.
Quinn has revealed his legislative strategy. Highly unlikely he will shift now. The game is afoot and Quinn has stuck it in his mouth.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 10:08 am:
Hilarious, the talk about how the smart GOP money wants Quinn on the ballot in 2014.
Why? You couldn’t beat him last year in the midst of a historic national GOP landslide with Blago, a bad economy and a proposed tax hike hanging around his neck.
Given that humiliation, I wouldn’t be talking too big yet. Maybe you should all knock on some doors instead, for once.
- walkinfool - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 10:11 am:
PQ: Standing up for the people and against the special interests, (as one defines them), could be accomplished while working effectively with the legislature. It’s not either or.
Take a stand early enough to allow time to negotiate, deal with legislators or staff directly to see how much of what you want can be accomplished, then offer alternative language prior to the vote.
Just saying no, and waiting for a response from the other side, almost asks for an override, and nothing of your agenda gets done.
If key staff and direct reports are up to it, as I think some are, then free some of them to deal with the biggest bills at issue with legislators.
- OneMan - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 10:19 am:
Yeah, lets get the rating agencies angry, that will help reduce our cost of borrowing.
- Bill - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 10:26 am:
Borrowing? What borrowing? The only borrowing the republicans don’t obstruct is when state employees go to the doctor.
The state sure hasn’t had any trouble selling bonds in the past.I don’t see how paying extortion to CME and Sears and massive guaranteed profits for Exelon improves a bond rating. Maybe Moody’s will be impressed by the coming proliferation of video poker machines or slots at O’Hare.
- CircularFiringSquad - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 10:57 am:
Lawrence has a pretty good read on this stuff
BTW when is someone besides us wake up to CME’s rolls in the following and whether their conduct warrants a new give away….
Chicago-based CME asked a number of clearing firms, or futures commission merchants, including New York-based INTL FC Stone Inc. and Chicago-based Advantage Futures LLC, to take bundles of the MF Global customer positions. With $8 billion in accounts, New York-based MF Global is the eighth-largest futures commission merchant and a major player at CME’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade and New York Mercantile Exchange.
- Truth Seeker - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 11:00 am:
Governor Quinn has been placed in a very difficult position. He has had to do things that democrats rarely do–cut expenses and take on the unions. Democrats in the General Assembly can set back and condemn and try to limit the political harm done to themselves and the party.
- soccermom - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 11:01 am:
Louis Howe — What, exactly, do you want the Governor’s staff to do? The Governor sets out a course of action, a top advisor disagrees and says so, and then — what? The advisor, being overturned, gathers up a group of state police and takes over Thompson Center by force majeure? Or perhaps a simple threat to hold their breath until they turn blue would do it? At the end of the day, one of the people in the room is the Governor. The others are not. End of story.
- Cincinnatus - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 11:09 am:
- reformer - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 9:56 am:
Cinci
Thanks for confirming that you (and your DuPage pals?) want Quinn on the ballot in November 2014. I think Democrats are smart enough to take out an unpopular governor who revels in attacking his fellow Democrats.
========
c.f. Rod Blagoevich.
- the Patriot - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 11:16 am:
I grow weary of democrats sayin they can’t work with and don’t trust Quinn. Uhh…you chose him. You made a conscious decision to put him up in the primary and then again in the general election. If Quinn is the problem, you are the problem. By hammering Quinn Madigan, Cullerton, AFSCME, IEANEA and all the other democrat organizations are really telling voters we are idiots, vote republican.
- QBRNST - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 12:38 pm:
It must warm Dan Hynes’ heart to sit back and watch the mess in Springfield.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zns-K8XrOAk
- anonymice - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 1:30 pm:
The people who distrust Quinn the most, and with whom he has the greatest problems working, are the professional and managerial state employees who are merit comp, followed closely by the unionized employees. He reneged on his deal with AFSCME regarding some union employees, but he has always treated merit comp worse than Blago did.
- LN - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 1:50 pm:
“Pat Quinn: Grabbing the Gravitas in 2014″
…or not. Either way, someone needs to use that slogan.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 2:56 pm:
“- wordslinger - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 10:08 am:
Hilarious, the talk about how the smart GOP money wants Quinn on the ballot in 2014.
Why? You couldn’t beat him last year in the midst of a historic national GOP landslide with Blago, a bad economy and a proposed tax hike hanging around his neck.
Given that humiliation, I wouldn’t be talking too big yet. Maybe you should all knock on some doors instead, for once.”
I disagree with word on most of his posts, but this is dead-on right. Enjoy Quinn’s ineptitude, GOP– you handed him the office keys.
- QBRNST - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 3:23 pm:
@Anonymous 2:56
2010 was not an “historic national GOP landslide” year…you’re thinking of 1994.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 3:24 pm:
QBRNST, 2010 was the biggest GOP landslide since 1946.
- Anonymous2 - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 4:35 pm:
Oooh… That sounded nice, Rich. Say it again…
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Nov 2, 11 @ 4:44 pm:
lol