* NBC5: Quinn, Brady Spar on Jobs, Ethics: In his opening statement Quinn outlined his main themes — job creation, compassionate governance — while accusing Brady of “reckless” budget plans and legislating in his own interests. “I’ve created jobs,” Quinn said. “I’ve brought honesty to the governor’s office.” Brady, in retort, accused Quinn of failing to create jobs in Illinois, leading the state into a record $13 billion deficit, and running a “secret” government that isn’t accountable to the people.
* Tribune: Quinn, Brady lash out on ethics, taxes, education at governor debate: Quinn accused Brady of voting to help his real estate development business. Brady offered his strongest response yet, flatly denying there was any problem with him voting three times for improvements around a planned highway interchange in Champaign that was near land he was working to develop. “There was no conflict of interest in these pieces of legislation,” Brady said. “I’m above that.” Afterward, Brady said he does “not regret voting for those three pieces of legislation.”
* Rockford TV: Gubernatorial Debate Gets Heated: The word “spending” dominated the debate between the two candidates for governor. “This is a house of cards, the governor is not being transparent, he’s spending money recklessly and Illinoisans are going to have to pay for it” says republican candidate for governor, Bill Brady. “I’ve cut more than any other governor in Illinois; I’ve cut my own pay” says Governor Pat Quinn.
* Daily Herald: Hot-button issues at center of governor debate: State Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican, told moderator Ron Magers and panelists at the ABC 7/League of Women Voters debate that he is proud of his social beliefs opposing abortion in the cases of rape and incest, and opposing civil unions and gay marriage but is not “using them to divide Illinois.”
* Sun-Times: Brady rips Quinn for handing out big construction checks: GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Brady Wednesday ripped Gov. Quinn’s barnstorming tour of vote-rich areas during the past two weeks to hand out multimillion-dollar construction checks. Brady, the state senator from Bloomington, accused his Democratic rival of ticking down the campaign season clock by using one of the advantages of incumbency: doling out money from last year’s $31 billion capital construction program. Since the start of this month, Quinn has crisscrossed the state, handing out $368 million in construction funds. That total doesn’t include another $73 million in state or federal allotments that were the basis for Quinn press conferences… Quinn denied using the projects that benefit the city’s South and West sides and areas far Downstate — areas where the governor is trying to gin up voter turnout for his campaign — for political gain.
* ABC7: Quinn, Brady trade jabs in ABC7 debate: During one question, the governor learned of a link between Senator Brady and Dean Martinez, a former deputy to ousted Rod Blagojevich. “I really was surprised to learn that the former deputy to Rod Blagojevich was hosting a secret fundraiser for Senator Brady,” said Quinn. “Governor Quinn is drawing for straws. These are fine people. Let me talk about governor Quinn,” said Brady.
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Quinn campaign…
But the bombshell of the evening came when moderator Rebecca Sanchez asked Senator Brady about a secret fundraiser thrown for him by Rod Blagojevich’s Deputy Governor.
In public, Brady denounces the entire Blagojevich administration. But privately, Brady is attending secret political fundraisers thrown for him by Blagojevich aides. The hypocrisy was not lost on voters.
Brady is one of the most right wing, partisan members of the General Assembly. But when it comes to secret fundraising, Brady is more than willing to cross party lines.”
* Bill Brady’s quote on Juan Ochoa and Dean Martinez…
“I believe they are leaders in the Latino community. They did host a fundraiser for me… They are good people who care deeply about their community and their state. And i look forward to their guidance.”
Guidance? Really?
From a friend…
I get the strategy, but those guys are transactional
CBS 2′s Dana Kozlov reports that while publicly, Brady has been criticizing Quinn for his association to Rod Blagojevich, behind the scenes, one of Blagojevich’s former top aides has been raising money for him.
Dean Martinez is his name. And Bill Brady admits Blagojevich’s former deputy governor has been helping his fundraising efforts. Brady says he doesn’t see any hypocrisy in that alliance. Gov. Quinn sees it another way.
“We’d like to know more details about that,” said Quinn. “Apparently, the only time he wants to deal with the Blagojevich administration is when it comes to raising money for himself. We need some answers there.”
“Gov. Quinn is drawing for straws, these are fine people,” said Brady.
