The governor of Cook County?
Monday, Jul 16, 2012 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I noticed this as well, but never got around to writing about it. Luckily, Finke did…
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill last week to increase the tax credits an employer can claim by hiring veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. It’s intended to help reduce the alarmingly high rate of unemployment among those veterans.
As you can imagine with a bill like that, many members of the House and Senate signed onto it as co-sponsors. Still, the lead Senate sponsor was Democrat John Sullivan and the lead House sponsor was Democrat Jerry Costello II.
Sullivan is from Rushville. Costello is from Smithton, south of Belleville. And where did Quinn hold the bill signing ceremony? In Chicago, of course. At Soldier Field, which some critics contend lost all semblance to a being a memorial for fallen soldiers when it was rebuilt a few years ago.
Quinn made several public appearances last week, none of them outside the Chicago metro area. It could make you wonder if the governor forgot that old state tourism slogan: Just outside Chicago is a place called Illinois.
* And, as it turns out, NBC 5 actually ran the numbers…
Quinn last ventured south of Interstate 80 on June 14, when he attended a ceremony to honor Illinois veterans at the Peoria County Courthouse, spoke at a Special Olympics barbecue in Springfield, and opened an international distribution facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah. The next day, he was in Rockford to sign a bill protecting letter carriers. Since then, all his public events have been in the Chicago area. Quinn couldn’t even find a small-town Fourth of July parade, a mainstay of gubernatorial photo ops. Instead, he marched in Des Plaines, less than 10 miles from his home in Chicago’s Galewood neighborhood.
Throughout his governorship, Quinn has spent the vast majority of his time in Cook County. According to travel records obtained NBC Chicago through a Freedom of Information Act request, between January 22, 2010 and June 15, 2011, Quinn made 505 official appearances in the Chicago area.
Here’s how many events he held in other parts of the state (take a look for yourself on our interactive map):
Rockford: 21
Quad Cities: 12
Peoria: 13
Springfield: 68
Bloomington: 11
Champaign-Urbana: 10
Decatur: 4
Metro East: 16
Marion: 8
Cairo: 1
Carbondale: 0
* The map…
* Quinn is heading south today for a press conference…
It was puzzling last week when Gov. Pat Quinn said he would visit Southern Illinois on Monday to outline the state’s response to the ongoing drought.
Why would he wait until after the weekend to address the disaster?
On Friday, we got the answer.
Rather than outline the state’s response to one of the biggest issues facing downstate Illinois, the Chicago Democrat was scheduled to travel to Williamsburg, Va., to rub shoulders with his buddies at the National Governors Association annual meeting. […]
Quinn’s visit to Waltonville marks the first time the governor has ventured south of Interstate 80 in more than a month.
It also represents the third time in about 15 months that he is heading to the region because of a disaster. He was in Alexander County during last year’s flooding and in Harrisburg earlier this year after a devastating tornado.
Apparently, the best way to get Quinn out of Chicago is to have bad luck befall your community.
Discuss.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:34 am:
Somebody needs to corollate the locations of Motel 6 with governor sightings…
- Anon - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:35 am:
Sorry for going off subject here, but why, after clicking any of the crains links on the scroll on the right, doesn’t the drains article open? After clicking, a new cap fax blog window opens.
- Stooges - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:36 am:
I guess he only likes to visit the counties that he won? Quinn is playing with fire here. When he visits the south today to talk about the drought, how long before someone brings up prison closures? He may face a pretty hostile crowd, especially since he can’t make it rain and he’ll only be announcing that he’s going to ask for federal disaster relief for the region. The last time he asked for federal help down there (Benton tornado I think) they told him no.
- anon - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:38 am:
New boss same as the old boss. The more things change the more they stay the same.
- Carl Nyberg - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:39 am:
Politicians aren’t near as lazy about leaving Chicago as the Chicago corporate media is about leaving Downtown.
Try getting the Trib, S-T, WBEZ, etc. to cover a school story in the suburbs that doesn’t involve a sex angle.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:39 am:
==…from his home in Chicago’s Galewood neighborhood.==
Whaaaaaaaaattt? He lives in the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield, doesn’t he?
- Cindy Lou - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:43 am:
Well, taking the conditions of our hot humid weather down here (and no, I’m not that far down state)I would not race down to meet/greet the people I’ve been kicking at either. He ventures out of his safe haven and he’s going to have to face the communities and workers/citizens, many of which are none too happy with him of late.
- TCB - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:48 am:
@Pot
His underwear are there…….which means Quinn has been wearing the same pair of undies for more than 30 days.
- Southern Peggy R - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:48 am:
Did Quinn decline to live in the Gov mansion as I think Blago did? Shall we just raze the thing and save some budget? Sell the land?
- langhorne - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:54 am:
friends, please. i read this blog for the exchange of opinions and to be better informed. do not make me think about quinn’s underwear. btw, he has got to be a boxers guy.
- wordslinger - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:07 am:
Governors bunking down in the Chicago area has been a complaint since at least the Thompson days.
There should be a balance. I think governors should get on the lonesome highways more and see what’s going on firsthand (Quinn sure did when he was a perennial gadfly for decades; he’d stop anywhere someone might listen to him).
Still, when it comes to governing, you don’t need Pony Express or carrier pigeons. You can pretty much do it from anywhere, communications being what the are.
And yes, the governor’s mansion is an anachronism. With all the deferred maintenance, it should be torn down or sold, if possible.
- Cheswick - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:09 am:
Tweets we’d like to see, but never will: Governor Quinn ousted Governor Quinn’s underwear as mayor of the Governor’s Mansion.
Anon - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 8:35 am - Those links are working now.
- Pots and pans - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:15 am:
RM, any chance you or your interns can run an analysis of the Governor’s travel (perhaps by county) as it relates to population distribution? There are 102 counties, but not all of them have the same # of people, or the same # of problems. Would be interesting to see if he spends his time where the people are.
- OurMagician - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:21 am:
Looks like we know have an east and south part to go with the original Forgottonia.
- Ronbo - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:25 am:
I hear that he may have an unfriendly crowd of Southern Illinoisans waiting to greet him when he gets there today. Seems they are concerned about some impending facility closures…
- Bob - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:34 am:
Governors plan for the Drought: Close all farms effected by the drought! Transfer all the family’s to Chicago. The farms will be sold to the Federal Government to expand the Shawnee National forest. The Farmers will be offered employment at other farms that where not effected by the drought.
- CircularFiringSquad - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:54 am:
*” I noticed this as well, but never got around to writing about it. Luckily, Finke did…”
Capt Fax turning to FInke for “news” that must be a new low point in the history of Capt Fax. Perhaps the Capt should bunk in with TreyJ for “exhaustion therapy”.
Some can still remember the time when reporters enjoyed days without governor or legislature to cover so they could wander about get some real stories.
- Fed up - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:57 am:
Just like the death penalty Quinn supports all of Illinois he has just evolved to believe everything south of I 80 doesn’t really matter.
- Fed up - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:58 am:
Maybe Quinn has been working on trying to help Chicago with that pesky crime problem.
- Thomas - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:59 am:
I’d have to bust out a calculator to be sure, but it looks like for every five events the guv attends inside the Chicago media market, he attends just less than two outside of it. That’s pretty close to being in proportion with the state’s population.
Still, even if the “governor-never-leaves-Chicago” argument is slightly overblown, it would be so easy for Quinn to make it a non-issue. His kids are grown and he is divorced, there is no reason why he can’t spend a little more time in Springfield. Who the hell wants to spend office-time in that dump of a building in the Loop anyway?
- Bigtwich - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 10:23 am:
Spending time in Chicago? He is just trying to prove to the ISRA that he is fearless.
- downstate commissioner - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 10:25 am:
If I remember correctly, Quinn was elected by the voters of 1 or 2 counties. Why should we expect him to spend any time at all downstate [other than Springfield for official business (or the State Fair)]? If I were in his shoes, I wouldn’t waste my time downstate.
And actually, considering all of the problems the state has, and Illinois politics, he really hasn’t done any worse than any other governor would have done in his place at this time. If Brady had followed through on all of his cutting threats, he wouldn’t be popular downstate by this time, either, other than with Anti-abortion and Pro-gun activists. (I voted for Rich Whitney.)
- Obamas Puppy - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 10:30 am:
Quinn loves shiny objects and the shiny object he likes the most is the spotlight of TV cameras, lots of them. In order to get that fix he must stay where there are the most of them. Harold Washingtons words are more true today then they were when he said them.
- wordslinger - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 10:38 am:
–If I remember correctly, Quinn was elected by the voters of 1 or 2 counties.–
The 845,000 people outside of Cook that voted for Quinn might not agree with that assessment.
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 10:38 am:
Its a safe bet that not too many Democrats facing election this fall want Governor Quinn doing press ops in their district.
I still remember when Ryan did a ribbon-cutting for Illinois FIRST in Champaign-Urbana, and Rich Winkel refused to attend the event because of Ryan’s abysmal poll numbers.
That said, the only way Quinn is going to get those numbers UP is to work the circuit. I’m confident that if Quinn can remind folks what they love about him — his integrity — and repeat his budget mantra over and over, he can move the numbers.
And like it or not, House and Senate Democrats kinda need those numbers to improve in downstate. You don’t want the Republicans to be able to make the elections a referendum on Obama or Quinn.
- Levois - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 10:42 am:
Hey I thought the Governor lives in Oak Park and also wasn’t he making noise about moving into the Governor’s mansion after Blago was removed from office.
- bored now - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 10:48 am:
i’d like to see that graph include the percentage of the population next to the number of visits…
- Crime Fighter - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 11:02 am:
@ OP - Amen to Harold Washington.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zns-K8XrOAk
- PQ's Primary Opponent - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 11:03 am:
It’s not like people in Chicago area like Pat Q> The Mayor despises him and most everyone else thinks he is a joke.
The March 2014 primary will be interesting, If somebody can run even with PQ in Cook he will be a goner downstate.. Bye Bye PQ
- Cindy Lou - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 11:10 am:
Population per places of visit really matters little to me. I’d think the governor could make a personal appearance in an area where he is planning to (or has announced) things that affect the area. Does it really matter if the large population of people live here, there, elsewhere when it comes to a topic that pertains to a particular area?
A bit of face time along with solid facts/reasons for such decisions (popular or not), in my opinion, is part of the citizen relations a governor (any governor) should extend to the citizens of the state. A governor serves a state as a whole. Makes decisions blah blah based on the good of the state. I just feel Quinn needs to stand behind his decisions/actions no matter if the populaton of the action is small or not and address direct to the area. Governing from afar is not much different than governing by press release.
- Wensicia - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 11:15 am:
I can’t remember Quinn ever coming to Lake County; not even during last summer’s disastrous wind storms.
- RNUG - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 11:42 am:
YDD @ 10:38,
Right now, about the only issue he still has integrity with me on is supporting the vets (disclosure: I’m not a vet).
Is that integrity on the flip side or the flop side?
- Hank - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 11:50 am:
The real question is where does he keep the wedding dress?
- Nieva - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 12:22 pm:
It is true Quinn lost almost all the counties downstate. He did get enough votes down here to get elected Gov. You can lose all the counties in the state by a little and win with Chicago. We need help down here but it wont be from Pat Quinn.
- Dirty Red - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 1:02 pm:
What downstate legislator wants there to be pictures of him or her with a governor that struggles to have even a 35% approval rating? Sullivan has a heavy Tea Party district. He can’t afford to have PQ there.
- mokenavince - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 1:56 pm:
Quinn was the perfect Lt. Governor.He is smarter than Rick Perry.
- SouthernIL - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 3:22 pm:
“Pot calling Kettle” ~ uh, no!!!!
- sal-says - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 4:45 pm:
Reminds me of the old saying: “You can’t cure stupid.” But Cook Co. carries elections?
“…Quinn said he would visit Southern Illinois on Monday to outline the state’s response to the ongoing drought.”
If he can make it significantly rain throughout IL now, he ought to be gov for another term. Otherwise, so what?
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 7:01 pm:
His drought visit went over like a you-know-what in a punch bowl. He made depressing comments about cornfields having to be plowed over and suggested everyone pray for rain.
I am not making this up.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 9:03 pm:
There is no reason to be surprised by this. He has no interest in Illinois - only the Cook County part of it.
- Transparency huh - Monday, Jul 16, 12 @ 11:11 pm:
The most private public news event I’ve ever seen today… man, he was super afraid of those protestors, to go so deep into the backwoods to avoid them, yet still hold a press event.