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Quinn travels all the way to Spain in attempt to snag Wisconsin company

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* Gov. Pat Quinn spent four days in Spain last week at his own expense, although the state paid for two staffers to accompany him. From last week…

Quinn has taken several overseas trips this year. This is the second trip his office did not announce before his departure.

Spokeswoman Brooke Anderson says Quinn is in Madrid meeting with businesses, commercial associations and government representatives. He arrived Thursday and is scheduled to return Sunday.

* The governor didn’t go into details at a recent press conference…

Back from a trip to Spain, Gov. Pat Quinn says there are opportunities to expand business relations with that country and Illinois.

Quinn says he met with companies in the bio-tech industry ahead of next year’s International Bio-Tech Convention to be held in Illinois.

“There’s opportunities for Illinois to grow a lot of jobs in this whole area of bio-technology so I got to visit with a lot of those companies,” Quinn said. “We’re anxious to have them come here, invest here, create jobs here, grow here and our exports to Spain are very strong. Last year we went up 29 percent and they’re good customers and you like to say thank you to people that buy your products.”

* But there was another agenda…

Gov. Pat Quinn traveled an estimated 8,000 miles last week to continue courting a train manufacturer looking to move out of Wisconsin. […]

Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson later confirmed Quinn met with representatives of Talgo, which is seeking to move its Milwaukee railcar manufacturing facility to a new state after Wisconsin officials said they weren’t interested in bringing high-speed train service to the state. […]

For now, it doesn’t appear Talgo is in a rush to make a decision that could bring more than 100 jobs to a state that is working to bring 110 mph passenger train service to the route between Chicago and St. Louis. […]

Talgo spokeswoman Nora Friend said there is no timetable for the company to decide its next move. A key factor will be whether the company wins new contracts to build additional train cars. […]

“We would be very happy to consider Illinois. We’d love to move to Illinois. We know that Governor Quinn is pro-rail. We’re still hopeful,” Friend said.

Quinn talked last year like the Talgo move was all but a done deal. It appears there’s more work to be done before we snag that company.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 9:48 am

Comments

I’m more than fine with officials taking private vacations, but taking 2 staffers on a private vacation looks ridiculous.

Comment by Shore Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 9:59 am
Well, as Gov. Walker says:

–“it’s in our best interests to have a strong Illinois and particularly Chicago.”

–The reason is that Chicago’s international stature helps lure companies to the region that otherwise never would have considered locating in Wisconsin, Mr. Walker said. If they come to Chicago, they may expand north of the border.–

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 10:04 am
Wouldn’t northeastern Illinois being the continent’s rail hub be more than enough reason for them to move there? Could Talgo have seen how the Governor and Legislature handled deals with Sears, CME, and ComEd and thought they could get more out of the state than they initially thought?

Comment by Dirty Red Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 10:22 am
nice that he zips over to spain to try to drum up business. but did he “visit” with the folks at DHS before he left to, you know, demand to know who and why they failed to follow through on death investigations and reporting? the death of disabled adults deserves more scrutiny than that focused on an awol congressman.

Comment by langhorne Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 10:32 am
Hey should we whack Treasurer Dan for going to Korea to talk up IL businesses there or just whack the Ds?

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 10:41 am
langhorne - Maybe you should try reading a little news before commenting:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-deaths-0711-jm-20120711,0,7073202.story

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 10:46 am
Is it 2014 yet??? Spain is spelled with an S and a P! Maybe the Gov got confused? Springfield starts with an S and a P too. Maybe he got lost trying to get to the capitol to fix the pension mess???

Comment by PQ's Primary Opponent Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 10:46 am
The Talgo thing is for the present pretty much more wishful thinking than anything else. The plant in Wisconsin has built 4 trainsets–2 for Wi presently in storage and 2 for Oregon. Now that those are done, I do not see anty transit agencies crawling over each other to get into line to order trainsets–especially given the severe budget constraints most have to work with. Even with Illinois’ investment into high speed rail, I do not see the state–given its financial situation–ordering 1 single set of Talgo trains. Also Amtrak, given that its budget is at the mercy of Congress, is not going to order anything soon. That leaves them with….
Also why move to Illinois? In Milwaukee they had the former sprawling A.O. Smith truck frame plant to move into for next to nothing. Heck Milwaukee would have handed them the keys, the farm, and anything else they wanted just to get someone in there, occupy that space and create some jobs. If they move to Rochelle, then they would have to start from the ground up. I know of no building of the size needed to manufacture trainsets just waiting for them, to come and move in. You just don’t pick up something like that and move at a whim no matter what any politician may wish for. Sorry Gov Quinn, the ‘magic beans’ aren’t coming out in your favor on this one.

train111

Comment by train111 Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 11:01 am
S-T-L, “maybe you should read a little news before commenting”.

thanks for pointing that out, i missed the executive order. the EO is a weak reaction. it calls for a review of the 53 deaths (53!) and it promises better procedures will be followed in the future. WEAK. there should be a criminal investigation of the failures of those involved. people should be fired now. one guy offered his resignation, we don’t know if it was accepted.

Comment by langhorne Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 11:15 am
langhorne - You said

“demand to know who and why they failed to follow through on death investigations and reporting?”

That’s what the EO did. You can call it weak, and in some aspects I might agree with you, but to say Quinn left town without taking action on that situation is just plain false.

Comment by Small Town Liberal Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 11:34 am
$500 million for 110 MPH trains between Chicago and St. Louis. How many schools could be built for that amount. About 50 High Schools. Where are our priorities?

Comment by downstate hack Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 11:36 am
Rich, shouldn’t your headline read, ” Quinn travels all the w ay to Spain to “try and” snag Wisconsin company

Comment by LINK Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 12:50 pm
=== Quinn talked last year like the Talgo move was all but a done deal. It appears there’s more work to be done before we snag that company. ===

Yes, he did. We’ve read multiple stories about how the good Governor has snagged Talgo from the cheeseheads.

It appears he made this claim to others privately as well. From the Tribune via CapFax on February 10, 2011: “The governor (of Illinois) just was able to attract Talgo, which is a train manufacturing company from Wisconsin, to come to Illinois to manufacture train sets, which is quite a coup,” LaHood said in Washington.

Glad to see he’s chasing ghosts and bio-tech in Spain while the BND is hard at work. Was this the most pressing priority at the moment?

If this was a vacation, then great. I don’t begrudge the man time off after a difficult session. In fact, I’d prefer he come back rested and ready to keep his vow of calling a special session on pension reform this summer.

But if this was his idea of prioritizing, something is wrong with this picture.

Comment by Freeman Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 1:04 pm
===I’d prefer he come back rested and ready to keep his vow of calling a special session on pension reform this summer. ===

Speak for yourself. No use in calling a special session when the leaders aren’t on the same page, or, in this case, in the same book.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 1:10 pm
A trip to Spain to attract high-speed train set makers.
Would that qualify as a boondoggle in search of a boondoggle?

Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Jul 11, 12 @ 5:14 pm