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* News-Sun columnist David Rutter wants Pat Quinn to just go away, already…
Those who don’t remember the Quinn years will not recall how affability does not make you a competent governor. On the other hand, maybe Illinois has reached the point where no one could govern it.
Whatever was faulty with Quinn’s management, successor Bruce Rauner made sure to cast each one in the most apocalyptic tone.
The two terms of Quinn as chief executive were multiple messes that not even jacking up the state income tax could cure.
There is only one reason Rauner sits in the governor’s chair. That reason was Pat Quinn.
Quinn was similarly unpopular during his 2010 run, but Bill Brady couldn’t take advantage. So, while there is some truth to the “Rauner didn’t win, Quinn lost” talk, the reality is that Bruce Rauner ran a highly effective campaign and Pat Quinn did not. Both of those predicates were required for the result we got.
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:18 am
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What “multiple messes” is Rutter referring to? If you’re going to give someone a beating, be specific, not gratuitous.
As to competence, I’d suggest Rutter compare the comptroller’s quarterly fiscal reports during the Quinn and Rauner administrations, then get back to us.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:29 am
“Bill Brady couldn’t take advantage…”
Because…Chicago
Comment by New Slang Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:30 am
The most effective money Bruce Rauner could spend in the next Governor’s race would be on “Friends of Pat Quinn”. Not directly, of course, but I’m sure he knows someone with a little bit if cash sitting around.
Comment by AC Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:32 am
Quinn has convinced himself that the citizens of Illinois are waiting for his triumphant return. He’s gone from an ineffective non-factor to the guy who keeps showing up at his old fraternity years after graduation. It’s a bit sad and a bit creepy.
Comment by Tapped in the 'burbs Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:33 am
Rutter and some others have been gratuitously mean-spirited toward Pat Quinn since he left office.
Nobody ever said he was perfect, but for the love of god…
Quinn looks better with each passing month of Rauner rule. Good grief.
Comment by Handle Bar Mustache Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:36 am
Quinn was certainly better than Rauner. I’m about to decide that Blago was better than Rauner. Both of them at least paid the bills. Rauner has yet to do that.
Comment by Chucktownian Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:51 am
Once Bill Brady ceded Cook County to Pat Quinn, he was toast. He had no organization in place to contest votes in Chicago.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:54 am
He made the full pension payment every year to Illinois public employee retirement accounts.
He drove down Illinois’ backlog of bills from nearly $10 billion to less than $4 billion.
Despite a brutal, nationwide recession, more people were working in Illinois at the end of his term than at any point since 2008, and unemployment reached its lowest point in more than six years.
He built and improved infrastructure. A $31 billion capital construction plan in 2009, the largest in Illinois history was followed by major Tollway, IDOT, conservation and water infrastructure programs, bringing construction-related work to more than half a million Illinois residents.
He stood up for LGBT families, enacted civil unions, and made marriage equality for all couples a reality.
He expanded health coverage to nearly 1 million previously uninsured Illinoisans, while cutting $5.7 billion in ordinary state spending and $3 billion in questionable Medicaid spending.
He made Illinois the most veteran-friendly state in the nation. (e.g.: “Welcome Home Heroes” helped 1,700+ military families buy homes with down payment support.)
He supported the independence of seniors and people with disabilities by increasing state funding for community and home services that keep people out of costly, segregated institutions and nursing homes.
He proposed the highest-ever funding for public education in state history.
He twice enacted major pension reforms – though only one survived court challenge.
He raised income tax rates to balance the budget in 2011, and bravely called for a rate freeze in 2014.
He enacted campaign contribution limits and gave the people the ability to recall a corrupt governor.
He spearheaded “Put Illinois to Work” which used stimulus funding to subsidize employment for 26,000 people.
He secured incentives to help companies like Ford and Chrysler expand and create more than 7,700 new jobs.
He made Illinois more business-friendly, with Illinois ranking 3rd in the country for corporate expansions and locations by the end of his term.
He doubled the Earned Income Tax Credit to provide the largest tax break to working families in Illinois history.
He elevated childhood education, making “birth to five” investment the cornerstone of his 2014 Budget.
He fought to raise the minimum wage to help workers and their families.
He prioritized criminal justice reform and oversaw an 8% decline in the state prison recidivism rate, from 55% to 47%. He closed a “super-max” prison labeled “inhumane and ridiculously expensive” by advocates.
He oversaw nearly 60% improvements in state contracting for minority and women-owned businesses.
He called for and then signed a ban on pregnancy discrimination by employers against expectant mothers.
He signed the Illinois Dream Act to give undocumented youth a chance at access to higher education.
Comment by Oh please! Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:59 am
==Quinn looks better with each passing month==
Nope. We’ve needed new ideas and new blood in Il politics in both parties for a long time. Reasonable people can be disappointed in the Rauner administration so far. But it was the voters’ hope for a new approach and new ideas that got him to Springfield. Reviving Pat Quinn is soooo not the answer.
Comment by Responsa Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:59 am
Rich, your summation was spot-on. Rauner, whatever his shortcomings (and they are myriad), ran a VERY smart, very effective campaign. Quinn, whatever his shortcomings (also myriad) seemed to be going out of his way to run an ineffectual campaign that did nothing to address concerns raised by his track record AND shortcomings that Rauner successfully exploited. And I don’t think that Quinn gets it yet.
Comment by Mr. Smith Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:59 am
-Quinn has convinced himself that the citizens of Illinois are waiting for his triumphant return.-
Right. People will stop reminding each other about how ineffective he was when he stops making noise about running again. Even if you don’t like the current situation, let’s not pretend that there aren’t literally dozens of Democratic office holders who could do a better job than Quinn did.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:10 pm
===Bruce Rauner ran a highly effective campaign===
You can accomplish a lot when your campaign has nothing to do with what you’re planning on doing once you get into office.
Comment by Anon Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:31 pm
Oh please!–
Well done. The criticisms of Quinn are always very vague…the accomplishments are specific.
Comment by State worker Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:40 pm
Love how Rutter concludes that participating in grassroots democracy is undignified. That’s a great message to type up and publish. So, at 70, we should all be put out to pasture and not participate in the process? I wonder…does Rutter get invited to do a lot of speeches to AARP members? I’m sure they would be inspired.
Comment by Wow Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:42 pm
The record $65 million that Rauner spent and the usual GOP turnout advantage in non-presidential years might have contributed to Rauner’s victory.
Nah… Just easier to say “Pat Quinn lost it” because of “multiple messes.”
If you write a column, shouldn’t you at least make an effort to have something of interest to say? There’s nothing compelling or insightful at all in this one.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:45 pm
For - Oh please! - You forgot one thing Quinn did:
He gave us Squeezy, the lovable budget mascot!
Comment by allknowingmasterofracoondom Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 12:53 pm
Whenever a campaign loses, folks pile on and say it was terrible, the worst run campaign in history. Of course it had nothing to do with the more than a million dollars Rauner donated to himself every week for the last … more than a few weeks. ha.
It’s very sad that a person who is fighting for reform is attacked and told to “go away” — a knee-jerk reaction that shows that a large number of people in this state (or at least on this site) are only interested in policy insofar as it plays into a zero-sum game. And columnists think that people shouldn’t fight for good after they lose an election.
Comment by Moist von Lipwig Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 1:00 pm
I think most of the folks telling Pat Quinn to go away are doing so out of a legitimate fear that he will become the Democratic nominee for Governor in 2018. It isn’t that he was a terrible Governor, he did have some significant accomplishments, but winning the next Governor’s race while being signicantly outspent will take someone more dynamic than Pat Quinn, and even that may not be enough.
Comment by AC Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 1:14 pm
I’ll never understand the hate for Quinn. He made tough and unpopular decisions that, regardless of whether you agree with them, he thought were what the state needed. I can’t honestly say that about the guy who came before or after him. I’d love the chance to vote for Quinn again
Comment by JohnnyPyleDriver Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 1:31 pm
“If you’re going to give someone a beating, be specific, not gratuitous.”
“A state audit released Tuesday criticized the spending and management practices of a $55 million, taxpayer-funded anti-violence program for Chicago and Cook County that Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn launched in 2010 as he was engaged in a tough election campaign.” (Ray Long and Rick Pearson, “State Audit Criticizes Quinn’s Anti-Violence Program,” The Chicago Tribune, 2/26/14)
Specific enough for you?
Comment by striketoo Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 1:42 pm
Annoyingly, Quinn was trolling the Hyde Park Jazz Festival yesterday with his mayoral term limits petitions.
Comment by JoanP Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 1:57 pm
Again I’m not hating on Quinn but the Dems will win with anyone BUT Pat Quinn. Rauner goes down, money advantage or not with everyone but Quinn. Rauner’s candidates are getting ready to go down in flames here in six weeks too.
Comment by Chucktownian Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:02 pm
===Tapped in the ‘burbs - Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 11:33 am:
…He’s gone from an ineffective non-factor to the guy who keeps showing up at his old fraternity years after graduation…===
Great analogy there, made me laugh out loud!
Comment by Lincoln Parker Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:05 pm
“Bill Brady couldn’t take advantage…”
because…Bill Brady.
Comment by Cheryl44 Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:37 pm
–”If you’re going to give someone a beating, be specific, not gratuitous.”
“A state audit released Tuesday criticized the spending and management practices of a $55 million, taxpayer-funded anti-violence program for Chicago and Cook County that Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn launched in 2010 as he was engaged in a tough election campaign.” (Ray Long and Rick Pearson, “State Audit Criticizes Quinn’s Anti-Violence Program,” The Chicago Tribune, 2/26/14)
Specific enough for you?–
Was that in Rutter’s column — the subject of my comment?
You’re pretty good at sounding out the words, now try reading for comprehension.
Comment by wordslinger Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:44 pm
Two helpful things that could happen to Rauner? CTU strike and Pat Quinn for Governor in 2018. Add a Hillary win and the 2018 midterms will be BRUTAL for Dems up and down the ticket.
Comment by Big Muddy Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 2:45 pm
Love Pat Quinn and think he was a much better Governor than most people realize. I do not think he would be an effective candidate in 2018 and hope he does not run.
Comment by Last Bull Moose Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 3:03 pm
Quinn is hanging around waiting for his picture to be hung in the hall of governors in the second floor of the Capitol. The problem is that state officials still have not decided what to do about his predecessor, Rod Blago!
Comment by Capitol View Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 3:22 pm
Rich it was a vote against Quinn not for Rauner, anyone that even glanced at polling knows that. I get that you are having some sort of love affair with the Rauner administration but lets not rewrite history.
Comment by Obamas Puppy Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 3:31 pm
Who knew Speaker Madigan would choose the screenname “Obamas Puppy”?
lol
I explained myself up top. If you’re just gonna drive by without providing any actual data or links or whatever, don’t bother.
Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 3:34 pm
Why is the Speakers name not brought up in the lost election of PQ? Chairman of the Party called off his people and handed it to Rauner. Don’t understand in million years how we could be worse than now.
Comment by anon. Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 4:53 pm
While I don’t want Quinn to run in 2018, the truth is he did a better job running the State than either Blago did or Rauner has to date. As -oh please- listed @ 11:59am, Quinn had significant accomplishments. With some passage of time I suspect future historians will be kinder to Quinn.
Comment by RNUG Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 4:57 pm
BTW, my criteria is simple competence in paying the State’s bills and providing services. As I’ve noted before, Rauner has put some good people running some of the agencies … but he’s blown the pass a budget and pay the bills part.
Comment by RNUG Monday, Sep 26, 16 @ 5:10 pm