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Daley: Quinn must withdraw Zuccarelli CTA appointment

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Illinois

* This may be a politically dumb move in a Democratic primary, but give him props for saying what he believes…

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Bill Daley is calling on Gov. Pat Quinn to withdraw his appointment of a powerful south suburban Democratic leader to the Chicago Transit Authority board.

“The only transportation experience Frank Zuccarelli has is walking people to the polling place,” Mr. Daley told me, responding to my story this morning about how, thanks to Mr. Quinn, Mr. Zuccarelli will be able to benefit from a double-dip loophole in state law.

“It’s the same old Springfield game. It’s been like this for 12 years, first under (convicted ex-Gov. Rod) Blagojevich and now under Quinn,” Mr. Daley said in a phone interview. “Here we have a transportation crisis, he just appointed a blue-ribbon panel to review transit, and he goes and does this sort of thing.” […]

Mr. Daley said he is not worried Mr. Zuccarelli heads a large and influential political organization, serving as Democratic committeeman in Thornton.

“I’ll worry about the election next March,” Mr. Daley said. “Someone needs to worry about the transportation system and the credibility of government.”

Yikes.

Background here.

* Bruce Rauner also responded…

“I’d call this is a blatant insult to every taxpayer, but it’s clear Pat Quinn and the Democratic machine don’t care about the taxpayers at all,” Mr. Rauner says in a statement. “In fact, there is now a pattern of Pat Quinn handing out taxpayer-funded salaries and benefits to key cogs in the Democratic machine. This is exactly why voters are eager for a governor who can’t be intimidated or influenced by the special interests and political machines that try to control politics in Illinois.”

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:13 pm

Comments

Ha ha ha ha ha! Bill Daley against patronage appointments. Now I’ve seen everything! Well, almost everything. But I bet a Cubs World Series win is around the corner. They’re not going to lose the rest of the year!

Comment by Anonymour Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:15 pm
Anonymour, if this was just some generic Daley statement I’d agree, but Zuccarelli is a very powerful Democrat in this here state. Saying stuff like “The only transportation experience Frank Zuccarelli has is walking people to the polling place,” is not your usual Democratic campaign talking point, and the Z-Team has a very long memory.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:19 pm
Daley is right, but Quinn really needs those votes so he doesn’t care about what’s right.

Comment by Fed up Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:24 pm
I’d say Daley has a point. Seems like Quinn has been treated rather gently by many Democrats regarding his use of the Illinois political patronage system, which seems to me to still be very active. To be charitable, after Blago and Ryan, I suppose many were desperate to see no evil. But since Quinn is now running for what would be a third term, maybe we need to take a harder look at his patronage practices.

Comment by Cassandra Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:24 pm
“The only transportation experience Frank Zuccarelli has is walking people to the polling place,”

Wow…

Have to give Bill some props for this, didn’t tap dance around it at all…

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:25 pm
Conjones. I like it. Billy is growing on me.

Comment by Centennial Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:28 pm
Rich, I agree that it was an unusual statement for a Daley to make. But he already had lost Zuccarelli to Quinn.

Mr. Daley wasn’t just an onlooker to his brother’s administration. He helped form it. A quick Google search turned up this reminder:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-sanchez-trial-10-mar10,0,2896375.story

Comment by Anonymour Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:31 pm
I don’t think Quinn saw that one coming. I’m guessing Zuccarelli already told Daley who the Thornton Township vote is going to.

Comment by phocion Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:32 pm
Very good Mr. Daley—-pointing out how phony Quinn is.

Comment by Cassiopeia Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:32 pm
I don’t see that Daley risks much by making an issue of this. The Z-team was already committed to PQ, thanks to Zuccarelli’s appointment to the CTA board. So Daley looks brave and bold without actually having anything to lose.

Comment by Soccermom Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:32 pm
A Zinger at the Z-Team!

Hurtful or not, that was a heckuva line.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:36 pm
The endemic hiring/appointment fraud continues. Did you expect anything different from a Blago supporter?

Comment by Joe from Joliet Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:36 pm
Oh for heaven’s sake, J-from-J. You might ask Rod how much of a “supporter” Pat Quinn was.

Comment by Soccermom Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:44 pm
Joe is so right. Quinn continues Blago’s hiring of connected but clueless hacks for high-level State government jobs. Over time this practice is dumbing down State government. An insidious waste of taxpayers’ money.

Comment by Sir Reel Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:46 pm
Perhaps Quinn will release the application that I’m sure Zuccarelli submitted via Quinn’s appointment website.

Comment by Just Me Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:47 pm
Soccer mom
Quinn never walked away he supported Blago, so he could keep his do nothing Lt Gov job. Then he became a do nothing Gov by default.

Comment by Fed up Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:47 pm
Best Line in a Press Release on Metra…

Wow, Bill Daley, big props for saying it, even if the Z-Team is “all in” already with Populist Quinn, as Governor Quinn has been good to them as an organization.

That being said, Daley gave the Z-Team another reason to help people with “walking to the polling place.” Damage to a foe working against you can only be measured on Election Night.

I am just going to ignore Rauner. At least Daley understands who he is in his statement, commenting on voters and polling places. Rauner just sent the canned, “everyone stinks but me”, so why even give credit?

Comment by Oswego Willy Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:48 pm
It seems to me that the best case view of Pat Quinn is that he is well intentioned and honest. That he is doing the best that he can and it would be better if the GA listened to him. Seems like this is the narrative he has been trying to push for the last 5 yrs to various degrees.

I would say Daley just pointed out a very large flaw with that Narrative. While this doesn’t seem like it should be as daming as the real/perceived incompetence this cannot help but make PQ seem like just another crony IL gov.

Comment by Mason born Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:55 pm
Daley continues to impress with straight talk. Is it because he is such an underdog right now, or can we count on him to continue?

Comment by walkinfool Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 3:55 pm
While I loved the quote, I see two problems w Daley’s statement:

1) It motivates Zuccarelli and team to work even harder for Quinn. Quinn already had him committed to Quinn, but there are varying degrees of commitment.

2) Seems like Daley should just keep hammering away at Quinn’s leadership ineffectiveness. Regardless of the facts (and Quinn certainly isn’t as pure as some people think), I think it will be hard for Daley to beat Quinn with a “You work with machine people” charge.

Comment by Robert the Bruce Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:02 pm
Hey, Fed Up — I think you may have missed an election or two somewhere along the way.

Comment by Soccermom Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:05 pm
I’m not sure I get the whole “Frank Zucarelli isn’t qualified,” thing.

Consider this: There is no CTA service to the south suburbs. There is CTA service to the west burbs, and the northern burbs. A goal of the Quinn administration is getting CTA service to extend south into the suburbs.

Appointing the mayor of Evanston or Oak Park wouldn’t have been absurd, even though neither of those individuals may have had transit experience. The CTA goes to both towns, so if they were appointed to the suburban seat, it would have made sense.

But if the goal is getting CTA service to the south suburbs, then why is it so absurd to want a powerful figure in the southern suburbs to represent an area of the region that has been neglected by CTA?

Patronage stuff aside, how is Zucarelli not exactly who you’d want in this situation?

Comment by Empty Chair Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:11 pm
I think it’s smart move; exposing Quinn’s hypocrisy is as important as pointing out his poor leadership qualities.

Comment by Wensicia Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:14 pm
Anybody that thinks PQ was a Rod supporter wasn’t paying attention. The one positive statement he made was in response to persistent questions. If you’re the LG, it’s just unseemly to take shots at your boss. Right Sheila?

BTW, this is such an easy shot by Daley (hypocrisy aside) and totally the result of a self-inflicted wound. I expect the next question from some enterprising reporters will be whether this appointment was the price for Thornton Township’s support for PQ. Doesn’t that get into interesting territory.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:17 pm
“…this cannot help but make PQ seem like just another crony IL gov.”

As it should, because that’s exactly what he is. It astounds me how much of a free pass Quinn’s blatantly hack appointments have gotten through the years.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:23 pm
“It’s the same old Springfield game. It’s been like this for 12 years . . . ” !2 years? Yeah, right.

Comment by Mugwump Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:41 pm
Oops. 12 years. Yeah, right.

Comment by Mugwump Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:43 pm
Classy of Rauner to refer to the “Democratic machine.”

The use of “Democrat” machine etc. by some (apparently because it polls a point or two worse) is really childish.

At least one Republican wants to act like an adult.

Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:44 pm
Quinn’s appointment of Zuc exposed Quinn as run-of-the-mill hack appointing a serial Government check collector just to buy Thornton votes. Good for Bill Daley for calling him on it.

Comment by orzo Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:53 pm
Rich does Bill call you everyday?

Comment by Ring ring Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 4:56 pm
as of some time ago, Zuccarelli had a part time Cook County job, was the Board Chair of the South Suburban College board, and the Supervisor of Thornton Township, with 2 public sector pensions in the offing re some STimes BGA thing I read. what does the new appointment get him, if anything? does he still have all those other positions? Wow, education and transportation, he must be some kind of genius. oh, wait….

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 5:44 pm
Welcome to the Blog, Daley staffers!

Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 6:03 pm
@Arthur Andersen, since your comment appears right after mine, I must state that I am making comments based on my own observations and google searches and I have no contact whatsoever with any campaigns, volunteers or staff. simply bored but interested in politics.

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 6:19 pm
Soccer mom,

Quinn never had the guts to step away from Blago, nice to see shiela Simon won’t make the same mistake. She can spot a fraud.

Comment by Fed up Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 6:31 pm
It’s a fair shot at Quinn, if a little surreal coming from a Daley — especially this one, the poster boy of insider wheeling and dealing.

If anyone had the notion that Quinn was some choir boy when it came to politics, you can disabuse yourself, although it’s all relative.

Choir boys don’t get elected governor of Illinois — never have.

Burke and Jones didn’t go all in with their money and muscle for Quinn against Hynes because they liked his canoeing policies.

Quinn better put up his dukes because the shots will keep coming. Fortunately for him, Bill Daley is an oppo research team’s dream.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 6:39 pm
Smart politically for Quinn, but bad optics. As others have pointed out. I am dying to know who the state senator and state rep from il are involved with trying to help Mugabe. Lol. Anything for $. “Don’t you see? Mugabe is just misunderstood.” LOL

Comment by dang Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 7:13 pm
and this is why we need a governor from outside of Chicago!!!!!

Comment by concern1 Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 7:54 pm
“You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Same thing goes for “honest” and “reform.”

Comment by Inigo Montoya Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 9:21 pm
Being bored myself tonight, I partially answered my question above. When the CTA pension was overhauled, the pensions for Board members were eliminated.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 10:18 pm
Another stupid move by Quinn. I like Daley’s retort.

Comment by mokenavince Tuesday, Aug 6, 13 @ 10:59 pm
The idea that this would surprise anybody is interesting.

Quinn is not a reformer.

Since he took office, he’s put a long list of hacks and failed candidates on the payroll.

So far the major difference between Quinn and Blago is the hair.

Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Aug 7, 13 @ 9:17 am
–So far the major difference between Quinn and Blago is the hair.–

That’s pretty harsh. Quinn wants to be re-elected, Blago wanted to get rich from office.

Who is Quinn’s bagmen, his Tony Rezko, Chris Kelly and long line of convicted felon chiefs of staff?

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Aug 7, 13 @ 9:53 am
You are right, Wordslinger.
It was extreme. Perhaps too harsh.

But at the core, they really are very similar.
Blago was willing to cross a few lines that Quinn has not crossed.

But the idea that either really cares about the state seems a bit ridiculous.

Quinn has consistently shown that he will bend rules to promote himself. Quinn comes first. Then the job he was paid to do. Frankly, for somebody who has been around so long, I’m not even sure he understands the job that he was paid to do.

Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Aug 7, 13 @ 9:59 am