Democratic candidates running for governor turned out for the first forum in Hillside this weekend and none other than former Senate President Emil Jones Jr. surfaced. Jones acted as a surrogate to Chris Kennedy, who had a scheduling conflict.
Jones talked about how a governor (and others in power) can help bring jobs to African Americans. He talks about getting more minority firms in the asset management business.
“They have a great opportunity if they take those dollars, hire asset managers … I found out that the City of Chicago in particular with all that money they have, have very few minority money managers. That minority firm is going to hire a lot of minority people.”
“If you are not given the opportunity, then you are not going to be able to sustain your business. Many minority firms suffer because they don’t have access to capital. That’s one of the things that the governor can do, state treasurer can do, city of Chicago treasurer. Open the doors of opportunity.
There were ripples of laughter over this comparison: “You go to an Italian restaurant, there’s a lot of Italians working. There’s a lot of Chinese working in a Chinese restaurant. There’s a lot of Hispanics working in a Hispanic restaurants. I know Chris’ record. I know what he stands for.”
Um, OK.
* Jones was also asked where Kennedy stood on marijuana. He said he wouldn’t answer the question because he didn’t know what Kennedy’s position was. This tracker video doesn’t show Jones, but you can hear him…
* The former Senate President also talked about guns. Well, actually, he kinda rambled for several minutes. About two minutes in, you’ll hear him say he doesn’t know where Kennedy is on the topic because “We never talked about this”…
Two state lawmakers said Friday that Illinois’ budget crisis and Gov. Bruce Rauner share in the blame for the death of 1-year-old Semaj Crosby.
State Reps. LaShawn Ford and Mary Flowers, both Democrats representing Chicago, said that investigating DCFS for its role is not enough and predicted that without a budget compromise, more children will fall through the cracks.
The state’s budget crisis has forced cuts at social service agencies that once were available to families in crisis. As the two lawmakers see it, Rauner needs to find a budget solution, while a spokesman for the governor said the lawmakers are politicizing a horrible tragedy.
“It’s the governor’s responsibility,” said Ford. “It’s his department and if the governor really cared as much about the children as he cares about selling the Thompson Center—DCFS would get the help that it needs.” […]
The governor’s office refuted the accusations.
“This has nothing to do with the budget, and it’s sad that anyone would try to politicize this horrible tragedy. Like everyone across the state, the governor wants answers on how such a horrific tragedy could happen,” a spokesperson for Rauner said Friday. “The Will County Sheriff, DCFS and other agencies are actively investigating and we are anxiously awaiting their findings. Something like this should never happen – and we need to find out exactly why it did. As an administration, we will remain committed to do anything and everything possible to protect the children of Illinois and improve the Department of Children and Family Services.”
It most certainly does have something to do with the lack of a state budget, but I, myself, wouldn’t directly blame the governor for the death of that little girl.
…Adding… It should be noted that DCFS basically runs without a budget because it’s under a federal consent decree. However, a budget could increase funding for various tasks. Or, the administration could go back to the judge and ask for more money.
Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner today said he blames Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn for the deaths of child-abuse victims whose families previously had contact with the state’s child-welfare agency.
“Yes,” Rauner said when asked by reporters if the deaths of 95 children with past contact with the Department of Children and Family Services from 2011-2013 were attributable to Quinn.
“Pat Quinn is, in the end, responsible for the failings at the Department of Children and Family Services. If it was a one-year problem or a temporary problem you could say, ‘OK, maybe, there was, it’s not really his responsibility.’ But he’s been governor for six years. He’s had a revolving door of failure at Department of Children and Family Services for years and years,” Rauner said.
Rauner’s remarks came as he stepped up his attacks over Quinn’s DCFS oversight with a new TV ad today with a similar message to a radio ad that began airing a day earlier.
Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson has called the ad campaign a “false and malicious attempt to smear the governor.” She contended Rauner was cynically using for political purposes an agency that “intervenes in emergency life and death situations” involving at-risk children.
“To imply the governor is somehow responsible for the deaths of children in the horrific circumstances that this agency enters into while trying to save lives is despicable and a new low,” she said.
More than two years after leaving office, former Gov. Pat Quinn plans to return to the Illinois Capitol on Monday to unveil his official portrait — a painting that is designed to not only capture his likeness but also offer a detailed history lesson about his life and time as the state’s 41st chief executive.
The festivities are set to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Hall of Governors on the second floor of the statehouse. The hall features portraits of previous Illinois governors, and after Quinn’s painting goes up, only one will be missing: impeached and imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
* One can’t help but wonder, however, whether the festivities could be dampened by columns like this one…
A top-ranking official a the University of Illinois’ Springfield campus was identified as among the wrongdoers in a court-ordered investigation of the illegal state patronage hiring scandal that occurred from 2009-14 under former Gov. Pat Quinn.
The voluminous report, prepared by independent monitor Noelle Brennan, identified Ryan Croke, a former Quinn chief and assistant chief of staff, as being among a handful of top people in the governor’s office who pressured officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation to hire clouted job applicants “with little to no regard for actual hiring need or whether the candidate was qualified to fill the stated duties of the job.”
When interviewed by lawyers Aug. 11, 2016, Croke, a 2005 University of Illinois graduate, denied any wrongdoing.
The report states that he acknowledged making recommendations for favored job-seekers but said he never “applied pressure or forced a specific candidate upon an agency.”
You are a government worker making $11,000 as a clerk in Washington Park. You want to make more.
You could go to school and improve your job skills, or you could call your political patron, state Sen. James Clayborne, and demand a state job.
When the $55,000 state offer comes, even though you have none of the qualifications, you double down on your weak hand and ask for $75,000. The Illinois Department of Transportation guy doing the hiring writes: “I don’t trust this guy at all.”
Unqualified. Demanding. Untrustworthy. The political juice is so strong with this one you’d think he was one of Clayborne’s female friends getting a state job. Plus Mr. Untrustworthy is hired to buy land for the state — no possibility of corruption there, right?
Former state Rep. Frank Mautino used his influence in state government to get people white-collar jobs at the state Department of Transportation, a federal court monitor revealed this week.
In two cases, employees Mautino sponsored didn’t meet the qualifications for their positions, according to the monitor’s report.
