Question of the day
Friday, Feb 10, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The setup…
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says if he wins the $310 million Powerball jackpot this weekend, he’ll still keep his job.
The Democrat purchased a $2 ticket Thursday for the Illinois Lottery game. […]
When asked if he’d use the winnings to help pay down the state’s massive backlog of unpaid bills, Quinn said he’s got to pay down some of his own bills, but there would be money left over.
* The Question: What do you think Gov. Quinn will do with the money if he wins the Powerball jackpot tomorrow?
Snark is heavily encouraged, of course. Have fun.
- OneMan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:50 am:
Get some food in his fridge
- TCB - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:50 am:
He will purchase a purple necktie for every citizen in Illinois
- OneMan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:51 am:
Buy every ticket to the Rich Miller Roast
- Ben Gazzara (may he rest in peace) - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:51 am:
If he won $310 million, he’d spend $540 million of it. Republican ZING!
- OneMan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:53 am:
Send Scott Lee Cohen a nice fruit basket and a thank you card.
Get Sheila Simon an electric banjo
- Shock & Awww(e) - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:54 am:
Buy Bill Brady a puppy!
- mokenavince - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:56 am:
Tell Madigan to take this job and shove it!
- Capital View - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:58 am:
A $100,000 contribution to the Obama re-election campaign should be enough for an ambassadorship to Ireland… for himself or Speaker Madigan.
- TCB - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 11:58 am:
@Ben
I dont care who you are,Democrat or GOP, that’s funny stuff right there.
- mark walker - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:00 pm:
Cayman islands anyone?
- Esquire - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:01 pm:
Stealing a page from such politicians as Mitt Romney, Rand Paul and, James Shields and J. Hamilton Lewis, the two sometimes Illinois politicians, Quinn would do well to invest his money in securing a carpet bag and new home and legal voting residence in another state that is more receptive to his future political prospects.
Seriously, I think the best other alternative is for Quinn to plan for his retirement and, perhaps a faculty position at Chicago State University.
- OneMan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:02 pm:
Push to extend the ‘temporary’ Pat Quinn lottery winning streak
- OneMan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:02 pm:
Produce a CUB reality show
- Name Withheld - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:03 pm:
Tell everyone that the ticket is golden!
- Name Withheld - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:03 pm:
Tell everyone that the ticket is bleeping golden!
- MrJM - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:05 pm:
A subscription to Capital Fax.
– MrJM
- OneMan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:05 pm:
Start running ads calling the governors of NJ, Wisconsin and Indiana ‘poopie heads’
- Interesting - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:09 pm:
Say “Goodbye Super 8, hello Holiday Inn Express!”
- Thoughts... - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:15 pm:
So lottery employees are prohibited from playing the lottery, but the guy who appoints/employs them isn’t?
What a boondoggle. I hope he wins just to see how it plays out…
I think he’ll use some on a new Dodge Dart though…
- CircularFiringSquad - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:19 pm:
Buy the Lifetime Deluxe Subscription to Capt Fax
Price: $300 million!
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:20 pm:
Buy a Holiday Inn Express …
Buy the Mansion View … Cahnge name to “Pat Quinn View”
Rent out State Fairgrounds for “Quinn-a-palooza - the Ulitmate County Music Festival”
Give Carol Marin a $100,000 to find out who told her about Cullerton and Madigan wanting Preckwinkle.
Buy Tom Cross a golf course for his caucus’ votes this session.
Start PAC - “Jason Plummer for Governor - 2014″
Lifetime membership to “Peapod”, the grocery delivery company.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:25 pm:
Make Pongee …”An offer it can’t refuse”
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:28 pm:
Buy Manny’s … Call it “Quinn’s Quality Cuts”
- Lakeview - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:28 pm:
Buy a soybean growing operation.
- OneMan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:31 pm:
Add some hydraulics to the Dodge Dart.
- Cincinnatus - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:34 pm:
Lose it.
- Retired Non-Union Guy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:36 pm:
$310M is about $155M immediate payout; with that he could …
Forfeit his State salary and pension …
Keep $15M for himself and set up $10M reverting trusts for 14 family members or friends to give them each about $150K annual income … (does he still have that many friends?)
He could fill his fridge and include a lifetime resupply contract …
Buy the aforementioned Dodge Dart (or find a restored original) and lifetime parking garage space in Chicago plus lifetime funding his I-Pass account …
- Stones - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:37 pm:
Upgrade from the Super 8 to a Comfort Inn
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:39 pm:
Hire “Joel Daly and the Sundowners” as the Governor’s “house band”
Buy all of Rickey Hendon’s purple suits, shirts, shoes and ties for “personal use”…
- Esquire - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:40 pm:
Purchase an expensive and secure “Vacation villa” in a Banana Republic lacking a reciprocal extradition treaty with the USA.
- Champaign - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:43 pm:
’soy boy’ bobble heads for everyone in the Land of Lincoln.
- Judgment Day - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:44 pm:
Buy a sea port and then give CAT a call…
- Ghost of John Brown - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:47 pm:
Buy Chicago Bears jerseys for all the workers at the Shalom Center Food Pantry.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-08-02/news/chi-quinn-to-don-packers-colors-to-settle-super-bowl-bet-20110801_1_packers-jersey-kate-maehr-pat-quinn
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 12:57 pm:
Buyout the Parking Meter contract and call Rahm … “Your move …”
Sponsor Skip’s “End of Session” party … and make it a paid State Holiday for staff only.
Take the extra money, after getting a new suit and 4 Dr. Peppers and buy the fuel and the nets for a Shrimpin’ Boat …
Dig out a cave in Cahokia, get high-tech equipment, produce a purple, full-body, bodysuit, and become a superhero.
Collect Butterflies ….
“To scale” model of the Capitol, out of Legos..
Hire Charlie Sheen to tweet for him…
- anonymice - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:00 pm:
Run over to CME and put it all on red . . . I mean . . . State of Illinois futures.
- dupage dan - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:00 pm:
Ben Gazzara wins! Hysterical!
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:02 pm:
Park all that cash in Cannoli, and Plastics …
- Amuzing Myself - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:14 pm:
1. Buy and replace the Thompson Center with a building shaped like a giant Soy Boy called The Quinn Building and lease it to the state.
2. Use it all to pay his increased state employee pension contribution.
- Cook County Commoner - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:16 pm:
See if he can retain the Niccolo Machiavelli of political strategists, David Axelrod, for his re-election bid. He’ll need him.
- Don't Worry About the Government - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:26 pm:
If Quinn were to win $310 million from the lottery then he would, judging by his prior decision-making, most likely take a loan out for $155 million to pay the taxes on it.
- Responsa - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:28 pm:
Buy new leather polish for “Betsy”. Might possibly upgrade to Meltonian.
- Nuance - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:31 pm:
Complain that it should have been $311 million.
- Jerry - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:35 pm:
Buy ComEd and all the land south of Peoria to start a tea company
- Ron Burgundy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:35 pm:
He’ll never see the money. Gotta get the winning ticket to the Powerball folks first, and he’ll find a way to screw that up.
- Edison Parker - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:44 pm:
The opposite of whatever he says he’s going to do with it.
- Jake From Elwood - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:46 pm:
Who knows? But rest assured he would certainly hold a Sunday afternoon presser with the giant-size check squarely balanced upon his portable easel.
- Tommydanger - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:47 pm:
He’d go on a spending spree at the Wizard of Oz store and buy a brain, a heart and some courage and hopefully a one way ticket to Kansas.
- Oswego Willy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:48 pm:
Cake and Ponies for everyone!
a 4 year naming agreement at the US Cellular, Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, Assembly Hall, Welch-Ryan Arena, United Center, Allstate Arena, and Sears Center … all will be named, ” ‘We Love Pat Quinn’ Field, Hall, Center, Arena…”
- anon - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 1:51 pm:
How about a nice hairpiece? Modeled on our previous governor’s
- Ivory-billed Woodpecker - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:07 pm:
Get Betsy a nice buffing up.
- Leave a Light on George - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:09 pm:
Support keeping the Bush tax cuts and make sure the state income tax increase is temporary.
- hisgirlfriday - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:10 pm:
He’ll save it for legal fees just in case he too falls victim to the governor indictment curse.
- Nuance - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:11 pm:
Buy some underwear for Springfield home.
- Bluefish - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:11 pm:
Drive above the speed limit through school zones in Chicago anytime he wants.
- Boone Logan Square - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:25 pm:
This speculation is all academic. Nothing’s going to be left after he pays off his Super 8 bills.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:36 pm:
Party at the Mansion. Illinois is invited.
- Anonymous - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:49 pm:
It’s been said Quinn is frugal. So, he ought to take about $100.00 and retire on that. Immediately.
Then, send the rest to pay down the BILLIONS of IL overdue bills that he hasn’t done much with so far.
- ZZ is Tops - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 2:55 pm:
Governor Quinn would build a spaceship and take Newt Gingrich with him to the far side of the moon. When they got there, they would have a Nerf gun war, build forts, and eat pizza.
- OurMagician - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 3:02 pm:
Propose that all lottery winners be exempt from all taxes retroactively, hear the backlash, change his opinion back to keeping things status quo.
- Jake From Elwood - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 3:10 pm:
Maybe the State of Illinois should buy some powerball tickets? They are tax exempt and $310M would put a sizable dent in some of the unfunded pension obligations, no?
Illinois is due for a win.
- JustaJoe - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 3:19 pm:
Try to buy what he needs:
What makes a King out of a slave? Courage.
What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.
What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?
What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage.
…..
What makes the Hottentot so hot?
Whatta they got that I ain’t got?
- Spring - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 3:28 pm:
I can’t beat Gazarra, but more interesting what bills does he have to pay down that 310 million won’t cover?
- 10th Indy - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 3:38 pm:
Finally get us some high speed rail services @ 55mph!
- 3rd Generation Chicago Native - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 4:22 pm:
Buy White Sox Season tickets, buy a different color Dodge Dart for each day of the week with White Sox Licence plates. Buy a boat to spend some time on Lake Springfield and fish. Also take Rich out fishing!
- wordslinger - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 4:29 pm:
On a day like this, rent Marlon Brando’s old island in the South Pacific, come back on Opening Day.
- amalia - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 4:31 pm:
it’s simple…make me happy. give some money to the Sox to buy some players.
- Objective Dem - Friday, Feb 10, 12 @ 4:34 pm:
Use it in his Primary election campaign in 2014!