* The Tribune editorial board didn’t quite get it right in an editorial blasting Gov. Pat Quinn’s State of the State address…
Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno summed it up perfectly: “Warm and fuzzy, but woefully lacking in details.” A campaign speech, in other words.
If that was a campaign speech, then it was the worst campaign speech I’ve ever heard, except for some student council races back in the day.
This last graf, however, was far more accurate…
The State of the State is disastrous. What’s Quinn going to do about it? We’ve gone over and over our notes, and we can’t find it.
We have all these gigantic problems, yet we heard not one single proposal from the governor about how to solve them. The SOTS is supposed to help guide the spring session and demonstrate that the governor has a plan. Quinn could offer no guidance because he has no plan. He’s adrift, just like the state. Rep. Rosemary Mulligan was spot on…
“If you want to enlighten me on how I can help you and not be in a partisan fashion, then give me some idea of where you’re going to lead before you ask me to follow,” said state Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, a Des Plaines Republican. “It was lacking in content that would solve problems.”
Senate President John Cullerton didn’t speak to reporters after the speech, but he released his own mini State of the State address via press release.
We are going to invest in the people of Illinois
Illinois must help small businesses through tax incentives to keeping and creating jobs.
We will invest in Community Colleges to help Illinois workers gain new skills and training.
Illinois must find innovative ways to help families pay their bills and stay in their homes.
We are going to build upon our economic strengths
We must modernize job creation tools for Illinois communities.
Illinois should reduce fees so businesses can keep and create jobs.
We must promote key industries to grown our economy and create jobs.
We are going to protect the pocketbooks of taxpayers
We must stop government fraud through greater oversight.
We need greater budget transparency and accountability.
Illinois must ensure that banks invest in small businesses to help keep and create jobs.
While lacking in details, at least Cullerton showed he has some ideas and direction.
Handed a chance to lay out his election-year agenda, Gov. Pat Quinn delivered a 72-minute speech Wednesday that wandered from traffic statistics and soybean paint to jobs and taxes.
* Bernie pointed to a silly speech line in his own well-written criticism…
“My nickname is Soy Boy,” [Quinn] added.
Sheesh.
* The funniest line of the day wasn’t in the State of the State address and was completely inadvertent…
Apparently not knowing the mic was still hot, [Speaker Madigan] said he was told Quinn’s speech would be 40 minutes long. He then pointed to the clock, remarking that it was 1:21 p.m.
Oops.
Second funniest goes to Justin Kaufmann, the Web editor at Vocalo…
Is it me or did Pat Quinn sound like the principal speaking to a mandatory assembly?
Third funniest goes to the two guys I was sitting next to during the address. Their conversation went something like this…
“OK, that’s seven times he’s said ‘Land of Lincoln.’”
Quinn ended his speech with a tearful tribute to his now-deceased, 93-year-old father, which evolved into a treatise on the governor’s leadership style and a not-so-subtle jab at Hynes for a series of harsh campaign commercials as their primary enters the homestretch.
“We’ve got terrible challenges, the toughest we’ve probably ever had in our lifetime. And we can play politics and call each other names. We can kind of avoid the problems. But that’s really not what our service members do when they get a responsibility. It certainly wasn’t what my father did in life,” Quinn said.
“He taught me always to work hard, treat people with dignity, don’t call people names, be honest and trustworthy. That, to me, is what Illinois is all about, our state, the Land of Lincoln. The people of our state, they’re the best of the best. We’re the pride of our nation. We can accomplish great things if we work together.”
He regularly refers to Dan Hynes as an “ankle biter,” is running a TV commercial right now that pretty much flat-out lies about his own record and distorts reality about his opponent, and yet everyone else is supposed to play nice.
