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When Gov. Pat Quinn came to Peoria last week to tout a piece of legislation expanding access to childhood immunizations, he sat at a table inside Kroger at 9219 N. Lindbergh Drive and signed his name on some official-looking papers.

In fact, it looked for all the world like he was signing the actual legislation, making it law during his stop here.

Not so much. In fact, he faked plenty of people out by conducting what we later discovered was a mock bill signing - what his press staff called a “ceremonial signing.”

We’re told that he does this routinely during flyarounds, when he hits multiple cities in a day to promote what his office determines is a major piece of legislation that they want to highlight.

“We do it with important bills,” spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said by phone Friday, noting that the legislation would make it easier for kids to get state-mandated shots to prevent illness prior to the start of the school year. It lets pharmacists administer the shots to kids middle school age where previously they could only give them to youngsters age 14 and up.

* The Question: Are “fake” bill signings acceptable politics or dishonest government? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.

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posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 10:56 am

Comments

Gotta love the way the PJS trashes Quinn for petty details…They also did not like the location…prefering something closer to their increasingly isolated offices. IT is funny Ds get dumped on and the Rs get the addess of their campaign offices listed for ticket purchasers

Comment by CircularFiringSquad Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:04 am
It is perfectly fine. If he never actually signed the bill into law, or was doing a line item veto of some sort, than that would be an issue. But if logistics require that he actually sign the bill one day and do a community signing another day, I don’t see it as a big deal.

Comment by Montrose Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:05 am
Yeah, it’s acceptable.

Just to clue the PJR in, when they hand out those giant checks for projects at events, you can’t actually endorse them with a giant pen and deposit them in a giant ATM.

Too bad Quinn didn’t sign the strippers “pole” tax at Big Al’s on Main Street. It still plays in Peoria.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:13 am
All public bill signings are ceremonial, fake or not. I don’t see it’s that big of a deal to make note of.

Comment by Wensicia Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:15 am
=== Just to clue the PJR in, when they hand out those giant checks for projects at events, you can’t actually endorse them with a giant pen and deposit them in a giant ATM. ===

Kinda off subject, but actually you can endorse and deposit those checks (although nobody every does; they do provide winners with standard size checks).

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/562/can-you-write-a-check-on-any-old-piece-of-paper

Comment by Just Observing Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:17 am
I don’t care about ceremonial signings so much as the dollars wasted on the Public Relations circus to promote them.

Comment by John D. Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:18 am
Pure silliness.

Only the media would pretend that all public appearances are anything but staged events…props and all.

The only time “actual” news happens at any of these things is when someone goes off-script, a prop malfunctions, or the staging goes awry.

Which is why everyone is focusing on the weather in Tampa right now.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:20 am
I voted it was “dishonest” — not that it is the biggest deal in the world, but I think its disingenuous to fool people into thinking its the real bill signing. If its not a big deal, then inform the attendees and the media that it is a mock bill signing. Otherwise the Governor is just using the attendees as props.

Comment by Just Observing Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:21 am
It’s not “dishonest government”, but they could make things a little clearer on what they’re up to. I put this into the category of conservatives who trash government for “spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on pencils”-what else are you supposed to write with?

Comment by Shore Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:28 am
Sunshine, you ever walk across a stage for a college graduation? Guess what, there is no diploma! Usually a note that says if you passed all your classes, and don’t pay any bills, the school will send it in the mail in 4-6 weeks.

Comment by M O'Malley Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:32 am
The real bill is auto signed and filed at the Index division 99.9% of the time. Governors almost never sign the real bill. It happens all the time. Now if you think it is a waste of money, then that is a different story, but dishonest?? Get a clue.

Comment by Jaded Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:36 am
Dishonest. Instead, the Governor should sign a giant copy of a bill with a pen the size of a horse’s leg.

If it was honest, politicians wouldn’t do it. They are doing it for a political benefit only. So, it is obviously dishonest.

It’s also totally cornball and so 20th Century.

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:38 am
I voted acceptable politics, which is often the same as dishonest government. I agree with other readers that this is relatively small as far as harm to the state goes. The PJ-S could serve its readership much better by pointing out the truly dishonest harmful government agency-level actions by the Quinn administration. These actions include pervasive violations of state and federal laws pertaining to fraud, whistle blower retaliation, safety violations, and widespread ethics violations among other things.
Considering the overall scope and scale of wrongdoing by the Quinn administration, it’s goofy to make a big deal about something like this.

Comment by Crime Fighter Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:39 am
I guess I’m old fashioned. I tend to lean toward the truth.

Comment by Sunshine Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:41 am
it is an example of Quinn’s red herring misleading the public to think he is actually doing anything. Truth is whatever retoric he expounds, I hear “Let them eat cake.”

Comment by BMAN Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:41 am
I always thought the Governor performed the actual signing of those bills at those events. Now that I have discovered that the signings are merely ceremonial, I voted “dishonest government” although I felt that wording was a bit harsh.

Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:48 am
Yawn. Not impressed Quinn came to my own local grocery to sign a bill (for the how many time).

Honest? Dishonest? I chose ‘dishonest’. Not that I really care how many times he he pretends to sign a bill, but rather instead find it a waste of money to fly around. Seriously, the guy can’t find a second , third, fourth reason to make an jot-around without having to fake sign a bill? Guess I find it leaning towards nothing more than a campaign stop at tax payer expense. The bill made the rounds of the newspaper headlines. What was the point of having to personally fly around and fake sign it multi times?

Comment by Cindy Lou Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:56 am
It’s absolutely fine. There is no problem with these events and they’ve occurred for decades. There is also no problem with the Governor flying around to generate publicity and let people know about the new laws.

Comment by 1776 Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 11:57 am
Dishonest Politics. Doesn’t surprise me. The “New” Pat Quinn appears to pull the wool over peoples eyes at every opportunity.

Why not just make an appearance? Or is it that he does so little he has to make it look like he is actually doing something?

Comment by Irish Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 12:13 pm
Completely LEGIT!!!

You got to remember this is Illinois — Some of the WORST POLITICS money can buy!!!

Comment by WhoKnew Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 12:20 pm
It’s all political theatre to feed the media. The voracious media boys and girls need their photo op to fill space, sooo, politicians oblige them.

Ask yourself: Why did the PJS cover the event? Because it yielded a photo op and spot news, nothing substantive. The reporter was probably angry about the assignment, so he/she did this story instead. An old saying in the news business is, if you don’t like the story assigned to you, find a better one. In this case, they dumbed down, not up, to get a different story.

A better question might be: “Was the reporter lazy or enterprising to come up with a “fake” story?”

Comment by anon sequitor Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 12:20 pm
@Irish -

Because THE MEDIA doesn’t take/publish pictures of Governor’s just who just “make an appearance.” They want a picture that tells a story.

If the media doesn’t like the way media events work, then stop covering “news” the way you have for atleast the past 40 years and start covering it differently.

But don’t complain when everyone else — anyone else — is playing by the rules you established.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 12:21 pm
The PJR is on to something here.

I hear the next story is going to be an expose on how you really can launch naval vessels without cracking a bottle of champagne across the bow. Or how Leland Stanford didn’t really join the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads with the Golden Spike.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 12:24 pm
@wordslinger -

Much more newsworthy is that the PJ STAR’s business editor called for taxing retirement income as part of the pension fix.

I wonder if we can get a reaction from Caterpillar executives and the rest of the CEO’s of the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association.

You can read it here.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 12:39 pm
Breaking: Mock bill signing draws mock outrage.

– MrJM

Comment by MrJM Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 12:42 pm
And MrJM closes the thread with the definitive comment…

Comment by Cincinnatus Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 1:18 pm
All political creatures enjoy or endure phony balcony staged events. What it IS is Outdated, but as usual, they are well behind the times. Or I should say, their handlers (who really run the show). Consider politicians marching in parades thinking they are the show - I predict they will stop that when the boos (or whatever) begin to truly express the disgust and contempt most politicians deserve.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 1:19 pm
I;m really sure Pat Quinn is the only politician in the history of the world to do fake bill signings.

Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 1:39 pm
Seriously? Someone is actually concerned about this? You can fault Gov. Quinn for a number of reasons, but this is about as “nothing” as a story gets. Move on PJR. This is a time honored practice that gives people who worked on a bill some credit. Let it be.

Comment by phocion Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 1:46 pm
=== All political creatures enjoy or endure phony balcony staged events. ===

Trust me: they are quite common in the private sector as well, the only difference is that the private sector has a much bigger p.r. budget.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 2:48 pm
I’m with Cincinnatus, MrJM has the definitive answer.

Comment by cover Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 3:02 pm
I remember when Jim Thompson signed his appropriations bill one day after it passed, to great fanfare.

But the actual bill was still moving from one chamber leader to another for signature, prior to being forwarded to the Governor for action.

So the actual date of signing was a bit later than the staged event. Who cares?

Comment by Capitol View Monday, Aug 27, 12 @ 4:35 pm