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* Tribune…
More than two years after leaving office, former Gov. Pat Quinn plans to return to the Illinois Capitol on Monday to unveil his official portrait — a painting that is designed to not only capture his likeness but also offer a detailed history lesson about his life and time as the state’s 41st chief executive.
The festivities are set to begin at 1:30 p.m. in the Hall of Governors on the second floor of the statehouse. The hall features portraits of previous Illinois governors, and after Quinn’s painting goes up, only one will be missing: impeached and imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
* Our good friends at BlueRoomStream have provided us with a live video feed…
* One can’t help but wonder, however, whether the festivities could be dampened by columns like this one…
A top-ranking official a the University of Illinois’ Springfield campus was identified as among the wrongdoers in a court-ordered investigation of the illegal state patronage hiring scandal that occurred from 2009-14 under former Gov. Pat Quinn.
The voluminous report, prepared by independent monitor Noelle Brennan, identified Ryan Croke, a former Quinn chief and assistant chief of staff, as being among a handful of top people in the governor’s office who pressured officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation to hire clouted job applicants “with little to no regard for actual hiring need or whether the candidate was qualified to fill the stated duties of the job.”
When interviewed by lawyers Aug. 11, 2016, Croke, a 2005 University of Illinois graduate, denied any wrongdoing.
The report states that he acknowledged making recommendations for favored job-seekers but said he never “applied pressure or forced a specific candidate upon an agency.”
* Or editorials like this one…
You are a government worker making $11,000 as a clerk in Washington Park. You want to make more.
You could go to school and improve your job skills, or you could call your political patron, state Sen. James Clayborne, and demand a state job.
When the $55,000 state offer comes, even though you have none of the qualifications, you double down on your weak hand and ask for $75,000. The Illinois Department of Transportation guy doing the hiring writes: “I don’t trust this guy at all.”
Unqualified. Demanding. Untrustworthy. The political juice is so strong with this one you’d think he was one of Clayborne’s female friends getting a state job. Plus Mr. Untrustworthy is hired to buy land for the state — no possibility of corruption there, right?
* Or stories like this one…
Former state Rep. Frank Mautino used his influence in state government to get people white-collar jobs at the state Department of Transportation, a federal court monitor revealed this week.
In two cases, employees Mautino sponsored didn’t meet the qualifications for their positions, according to the monitor’s report.
* Then there was this editorial headline…
Was Pat Quinn running the state of Illinois — or a job fair?
posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:05 pm
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I was not a fan of Quinn because I thought he was a poor administrator and basically a babblemouthed incompetent as governor. But still, I had at least allowed myself to somewhat buy into the good guy everyman reputation and his deep love for Illinois that he constantly sold to the public about himself.
With that in mind the continual exposes of corruption in hiring and extreme favoritism for unqualified job seekers during his administration have shocked even me.
Comment by Responsa Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:23 pm
I always thought that Quinn was trying to run the state & he was to incompetent to keep the Chicago Democratic machine from running the Job Fair./s I wish!
Comment by WhoKnew Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:30 pm
Always was, and still is, a phony. “We the people…”. Blah blah blah.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:36 pm
Squeezey should be on the official portrait.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:42 pm
===Was Pat Quinn running the state of Illinois — or a job fair?==
Dunno. You need to wait until the interactive Governor portrait is unveiled…then you can just ask it. /s
Comment by A guy Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:43 pm
I guess the University of Illinois system has become the dumping grounds for failed political operatives.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:47 pm
There’s no arguing that the Quinn administration engaged in a shell game to get around Rutan restrictions on political hiring. Quinn’s legacy has deservedly been tainted by this.
However, accusing some Quinn officials by name of “illegal” activities is a little hyperbolic and kinda unfair. The monitor found they violated a court-ordered consent decree that grew out of a lawsuit — something that has happened elsewhere in state government, like in DCFS and IDOC, in cases that have nothing to do with political hiring.
None of the Quinsters were hauled off by the FBI, criminally charge, and convicted in court. The newspaper headlines unfairly imply they were.
Comment by Telly Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:49 pm
Pat Quinn?
I have always felt, as a person, in his persona, Quinn had his heart in the right place, doing things that no one saw with soldiers/veterans and his concern for their well being.
As a governor, Quinn was ridiculously awful as an administratior, a gadfly executive that preferred stunts and gimmicks to the actual hard work a gadfly would never be able to lift, and truly was someone confused by the machinery he had the levers for, many times stripping gears when the easy path was not the most glamorous or press-pretty
AFSCME taught Quinn a lesson, and both are worse off. The ongoing hiring issues won’t be cleared up any time soon, a mess Quinn owns, and such irony given Quinn’s issue with AFSCME and now with Rauner
I congratulate Gov. Quinn on the occasion of his portrait, but I sing need Pat Quinn in state government anytime soon.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:49 pm
As much as some people don’t like it Blago WAS governor and should have his portrait up. It is like the old Soviet Union become a non person and erase all mention. If we do it for him then erase all mention of any crooked state rep or senator or Paul Powell Orville Hodge Secretary of State Ryan and god only know how many Cook County officials
Comment by DuPage Saint Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:56 pm
“Let the will of the people become the law of the land.”
Comment by Boone's is back Monday, May 8, 17 @ 12:56 pm
I’ve only had a few interactions with Ryan Croke and each time I’ve asked myself, how has he gotten this far?
Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 8, 17 @ 1:07 pm
- DuPage Saint -
I concur.
Gov. Blagojevich was a governor of Illinois.
The painting hung of Rod does many things;
It acknowledges our own state history
It reminds us all that glory is fleeting
It would be a cautionary tale that his portrait isn’t celebratory but significant only as we refuse to turn away from truth.
Other portraits of other officials that were originally hung and are removed at another Capitol, their historic context have significance for their removal as the lesson we all must learn.
The portrait of Gov. Blagojevich is more important to be there, then not. That’s the lesson, that’s the lesson of history too.
Comment by Oswego Willy Monday, May 8, 17 @ 1:08 pm
How can we miss you if you won’t go away?
Comment by DuPage Bard Monday, May 8, 17 @ 1:30 pm
== Was Pat Quinn running the state of Illinois — or a job fair? ==
Updated for 2017:
Is Bruce Raunner running Illinois - or Running Illinois into the ground? Oh, and those Munger etal hires?
Comment by sal-says Monday, May 8, 17 @ 1:40 pm
I’d take Pat Quinn over the guy we have now any day.
Comment by Albany Park Patriot Monday, May 8, 17 @ 1:43 pm
http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/columns/2017-05-07/jim-dey-top-ui-springfield-official-caught-illegal-hiring-web.html
Not only Croke, but also Quinn’s head of the Illinois Board of Higher Education (Lindsay Anderson) who now also works for the UofI system.
Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 8, 17 @ 1:53 pm
==However, accusing some Quinn officials by name of “illegal” activities is a little hyperbolic and kinda unfair.==
It’s one of those things that’s technically true, but distorts more than it explains.
Comment by Arsenal Monday, May 8, 17 @ 1:55 pm
Blago’s picture should be up there - with his face behind bars.
“This is the Face of Illinois Politics”
Comment by Anonymous Monday, May 8, 17 @ 3:32 pm
To anonymous
Not exactly sure why I am wasting my time on you but Ryan Croke is one of the finest young me I have ever met and I have been around awhile. I wonder if you are some political hack who didn’t get the job you wanted.
Comment by Former State Employee Monday, May 8, 17 @ 3:36 pm
===Was Pat Quinn running the state of Illinois — or a job fair?==
Ask Munger and her crew.
How are your “desperate attempts” raising money to make up for GOP Gov. Deadbeat cutting Catholic Charities going?
Got a real number, on the money you’ve hustled to raise so far?
Or were you just being silly, lazy and dishonest and didn’t mean it, what with the Lord on your side and everything, in your twisted mind?
Is that cognitive dissonance difficult, or do you just not care?
Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:51 pm
==Ryan Croke is one of the finest young me I have ever met==
That is nice to hear. But did you have a defense or anything salient to say about the part of the report that quoted this:
==identified Ryan Croke, a former Quinn chief and assistant chief of staff, as being among a handful of top people in the governor’s office who pressured officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation to hire clouted job applicants “with little to no regard for actual hiring need or whether the candidate was qualified to fill the stated duties of the job.”==
Comment by Responsa Monday, May 8, 17 @ 4:58 pm
Response
My attitude about this is after 32 years in private business, and my short time in Springfield, I found there to be hundreds or even thousands of people hired into State Government that were unqualfied for the positions they held. The political system of hiring has been replaced in many cases by a system of hiring insiders, family or otherwise. Nothing has changed under Rutan that I can tell. I hope you wouldn’t try to tell me the most qualified person gets hired for the job would you?
Comment by Former State Employee Monday, May 8, 17 @ 5:07 pm
When I see Pat Quinn reappear, it’s like seeing a Marie Osmond stubborn bellyfat commercial. I scream and turn it off.
Comment by justacitizen Monday, May 8, 17 @ 9:16 pm
-Former State Employee-
So since everyone else is doing it, then that makes it ok? Solid logic./s
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 9:11 am