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* 4:31 pm - The gaming bill just came up ~~shirt~~ short in the Senate, 28-28-1. It was put on postponed consideration. As the roll call was proceeding, its sponsor, Sen Terry Link, warned his colleagues loudly that it was either this or a tax hike.

* 5:48 pm - Conflict between Senate President John Cullerton and reform commission chairman Patrick Collins over whether Collins was advised to get his own sponsors for his legislation…

* 5:50 pm - The AP has a follow-up to my “Extra” from earlier this afternoon…

Gov. Pat Quinn says a campaign aide made an embarrassing mistake by calling Springfield interest groups to raise political money.

But the Democratic governor denies he had any intention of demanding contributions in exchange for special access to him.

Quinn said Friday that the aide was supposed to contact groups that had offered to raise money for him and make arrangements.

He says the aide went further and called groups that had never volunteered to help. When asked how much they should donate, the aide suggested $15,000.

*** UPDATE *** From Governor Quinn’s office…

On Friday, Governor Pat Quinn was questioned by reporters about a mistake made by one of his campaign aides in the course of making fundraising calls. In response, he acknowledged that a campaign worker had made a mistake, and affirmed that the mistake would not be repeated.

Governor Quinn said a campaign aide made calls to a number of political action committees of Illinois trade associations to ask if their members might be interested in holding a breakfast or luncheon fundraiser for the Governor. These events were being scheduled for June and July, after the end of the current legislative session.

Governor Quinn said the aide was supposed to contact political action committees that had previously offered to raise money for the campaign and make arrangements for future events. He said the aide went further without his knowledge and called groups that had not previously volunteered to help.

At no time did any campaign staff member suggest that access to the Governor would be limited to campaign donors, nor was any promise of special treatment made to campaign supporters. The Governor added that it was regrettable that campaign staff did not anticipate that some political action committees might misunderstand a straightforward inquiry about a future event.

Throughout his life in public office, Governor Quinn has earned a reputation for accessibility; his door is open to any association member, elected official, or private citizen who wishes to discuss any pressing issue that affects the people of Illinois.

The campaign staff member who made the mistaken calls in question has been reprimanded and will be reassigned to duties that do not involve further fundraising solicitations.

Additionally, Governor Quinn offered his personal apologies for the mistake made by his campaign staff.

He still doesn’t get it.

You don’t do fundraising calls to groups with bills before the legislature during the final weeks of session, even if they’ve offered to set up funders in the past. The staffer made the mistake of cold-calling associations, but it was the governor’s order to call groups that had expressed interest in contributing. That was the worst mistake because he’s the governor and should know better.

And, frankly, he shouldn’t be contacting any groups that have bills in the hopper until after he’s taken action on those bills.

The governor shouldn’t be throwing that staffer under the bus. He should take full responsibility for the full program.

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:32 pm

Comments

Tax hike, please, no more gaming expansion. Show some stones, electeds.

Comment by Gregor Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:40 pm
Gregor’s got it right. This gambling bill was described as producing $100 mil in year 1. In other words, this bill fills about 1/40th or so of the FY2010 budget hole.

Comment by Linus Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:44 pm
How about cutting some programs? I would rather have a program cut than someone raising my already high taxes.

Comment by Boscobud Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:44 pm
An income tax hike would be a more progressive and more stable tax, plus the gaming revenue projections are way high. I don’t want to live in Atlantic City - sorry Sen. Link.

Senate just adjourned.

Comment by Hon. Cranial Lamb Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:52 pm
{Sen Terry Link, warned his colleagues loudly that it was either this or a tax hike.}

Was Senator Link suggesting that if this passed there would be no tax hike?

Comment by Quinn T. Sential Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:55 pm
What is the bill’s number?

Comment by Cal Skinner Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:56 pm
I think it was SB 744

Comment by Hon. Cranial Lamb Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:57 pm
Does anyone know who the yes votes were? I know there is no roll call online but hoped that maybe someone got it with a cell phone camera or got one of the “private” roll calls.

Comment by What? Friday, May 22, 09 @ 4:58 pm
Back to my original post on this thread. I don’t want to pay more taxes, but I also don’t want to see our state’s vital services (education, higher education, medicare, senior care) cut because our state is broke.

I urge the legislators to make cuts they need to, including pension reforms, but also have the “stones” to stand up for what they need to do - raise income taxes to pay for the state’s necessities.

Comment by Hon. Cranial Lamb Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:00 pm
First tell us what the real cuts to the budget will be (not the scare tactic doomsday cuts)and then talk to the citizens about raising taxes. I am tired of all the tax and fee raises going on at every level of government. The 3 letter word C-U-T must come first.

Comment by Just a Citizen Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:06 pm
Rich - Do something useful and post the vote. Hopefully, not too difficult.

Comment by The Fox Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:08 pm
Lang has filed motions to reconsider on all three motions of the Capital Bill whats the deal?

Comment by Quacktastic Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:10 pm
If Quinn does not have the Cap Bill in hand ready to sign he can’t play games and use it as leverage. Lang plays chess too - I think this move is called castleing.

Comment by A Citizen Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:15 pm
I think video poker will be the extent of gambling.

Is there private capital out there right now to build more casinos, even one downtown? I’m not so sure.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:18 pm
Citizen: this is NOT a tax OR a fee! this is getting money for the state government that is currently going to the MOB! If legislators can’t be for this, good God, you’re looking at a Dec 25th (Merry X-Mas, everybody) adjournment date PLUS a probable government shutdown!

Comment by this old hack Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:31 pm
To the “show us where to cut crowd”-

I thought we were a right to property country…. If you want to take our stufr it is on you to prove that’s it necessary, its not our job to ciphon through your closed door budget process and divine what you are trying to spend and find cuts.

Comment by John Bambenek Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:31 pm
so glad I am not there and can observe from far away!

Comment by this old hack Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:32 pm
We have 177 real profiles in courage here.

I don’t want to vote for new taxes.
I don’t want to cut programs.
I don’t want to expand gaming.

Well members of the GA, we want want you to do your jobs, make the tough choices and get this done. Did something about a May 31st deadline surprise you? Is it something you didn’t know about on January 1? Did you think the economy would just get better real fast?

Do your jobs. You have had 5 months to look for a solutions. You have found no solutions than the ones that you knew were going to be there.

Have some guts, make some choices and GO HOME.

Comment by Give Me A Break Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:47 pm
My mistake. The bill authorizes 4 new casinos, landbased in chicago…etc. Yes, won’t go anyplace. Casinos are losing money as it is. Look at whats happened to MGM stock over the past year. Sorry Rich.

Comment by this old hack Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:48 pm
“Members of the GA, we want you to do your jobs, make the tough choices and get this done.”

And if you think you’re going to lose your jobs over this… at least you have 18 months to plan ahead and start looking for another, which is more than can be said for most of the rest of the world

Comment by Bookworm Friday, May 22, 09 @ 5:57 pm
Freudian slip? “The gaming bill just came up shirt in the Senate.” Is that shirt as in losing it?

Comment by If It Walks Like a Duck... Friday, May 22, 09 @ 6:24 pm
Great scope Rich. Amazing job.

This is this Blagojevich-like stupidity and very close to Blagojevich-like corruption. Charging 15,000 to set up a meeting with the Gov? Tell me how that is not selling access for your own benefit?

If there was any contact with Gov’s official scheduler to set up meetings this excuse won’t fly. If this was happening with any senior staff member’s knowledge the Quinn’s credibility is shot and he may as well resign. This is either criminal or pretty darn close. Unbelievable the level of stupity or incompetence. His insistence in not firing this employee is in lock step in his support of Filan, Lavin and all the other Blagoofs.

Comment by johnnyc Friday, May 22, 09 @ 6:33 pm
Scoop not scope. Great scoop.

Comment by johnnyc Friday, May 22, 09 @ 6:36 pm
Quinn affair: Hillarious! LMAO!

The non reforming “reformers” are beginning to fall under their own weight.

I wonder what Collins will say now?

Comment by this old hack Friday, May 22, 09 @ 6:45 pm
$15,000 for some Face Time with the Guv - LOL - that’s either Sam’s Club or Walmart pricing in these difficult times. Exguv got a minimum of $25,000 per opportunity. The recession is beginning to pay off for us poor commoners.

Comment by A Citizen Friday, May 22, 09 @ 7:11 pm
Pat Collins proved himself to be a crybaby!

Comment by Watcher Friday, May 22, 09 @ 7:36 pm
The Quinn fundraising calls are a gut punch to the image of a guy who’s selling himself as the last word in reform (and has been his whole Don Quixite career).

That’s going to hurt Quinn a lot, the rest of the session, at least.

Comment by wordslinger Friday, May 22, 09 @ 7:46 pm
Oh yeah; just a ‘mistake’. Puleeze. The ‘Aide’ apparently didn’t get very good direction did he/she? And, was the “Aide’ off-planet during the last so called administraton? Now is not pay-to-play; it’s pay-to-face. Great.

Comment by sal-says Friday, May 22, 09 @ 7:58 pm
Hey Fox, do something useful and read the rules. Postponed consideration means no recorded rollcall.

Comment by Rich Miller Friday, May 22, 09 @ 8:34 pm
You mean our new guv has been, shall we say, “marked down”?

Comment by Bookworm Friday, May 22, 09 @ 8:43 pm
Great scoop Rich. I chalk this up to ineptitude rather than hypocrisy on Quinn’s part. But what a bone-headed move. Anybody ask Collins about it today?

Comment by 47th Ward Friday, May 22, 09 @ 8:44 pm
For the fundraising calls, I honestly think it was just a really, really dumb mistake. I stupendously dumb mistake, but not a concerted effort to link donation to end of session considerations. Someone did not stop to think through what they were doing and how it would look. Really dumb, but not a scheme.

Comment by montrose Friday, May 22, 09 @ 8:46 pm
Looks like Happy Hour is over. Welcome back Rich; just in time to see the Hawks blow a 3 goal lead.

I think I have seen a postponed consideration “unrecorded roll call” posted here once ortwice in the past.

The more appropriate response of course would have been “subscribe”.

Switch to de-caf and enjoy the long weekend.

Comment by Anonymous Friday, May 22, 09 @ 8:49 pm
I sure hope Quinn begins to impose caps on the campaign dollars he raises. He needs to set an example for all to follow.

Comment by Sad Friday, May 22, 09 @ 9:00 pm
Since this Quinn incident happened today, I think he should set an example and start his fund-raising from zero all over again. Oh wait, he’s already at zero. Great job Governor!

Comment by Hon. Cranial Lamb Friday, May 22, 09 @ 9:20 pm
47th Ward,

I agree with you completely. I really believe it is their inexperience and the lack of experienced pros in his political operation that are responsible for this screwup. Pat didn’t suddenly become corrupt. But his complete disinterest in fundraising leads to precisely this kind of thing.

His operation won’t work on autopilot. He needs to fix it.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Friday, May 22, 09 @ 10:13 pm
Baloney. It’s his campaign, he is accountable. He doesn’t have experienced pros anywhere, why would you expect them in the campaign office?

The entire premise upon which the calls were based, the hack offering to take “five or more,” the repulsion on the part of those called-tell me, folks, if Rich posted the item with Blago-era names substituted for the Quiennies, what would you have thought? Yep, pay-to-play.

Pat Quinn, Lite Guv, Chapter 423.

PS: That gaming bill ain’t worth the paper it’s written on, pass or fail. Check the financials of MGM, Harrah’s, or any of the major industry players. New casinos just can’t be financed off those balance sheets.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Friday, May 22, 09 @ 10:56 pm
I agree with AA. It’s his campaign. He’s responsible.

Clearly, the man hasn’t learned anything about governing. If you are a sitting guv running for office in the middle of a huge corruption scandal
one of the things you do is train your campaign staff really, really carefully–and you screen out the fools before they start making calls.

Increasingly, I think the guy is a fake when it comes to reform issues.

Welcome to Illinois’ latest pay to play govenor.

Comment by Cassandra Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 4:00 am
I agree with Cassandra….what the heck posting at 4:00 a.m.!
Ignorance or ineptitude is no excuse, and it certainly will be fodder for the LMadigan campaign team. Were they not paying attention since December 9?

Comment by Vote Quimby!--Latecomer Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 6:55 am
Just noticed Collins is telling the media he did not know the “facts” of the Quinn pay to play scandale. Does he plan to learn them or just wander back to his la la land and blame the legislature some more?

Comment by 2ConfusedCrew Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 7:18 am
Ruh-roh, says the new guy from the dog house.

I have no doubts of Quinn when he says it was a stupid mistake, but stupid it was, especially considering the atmosphere we’re currently in.

I won’t for a minute believe Quinn is corrupt but he sure has a long way to go concerning the people he surrounds himself with. Blagojevich holdovers, seriously inexperienced staff, why it gives the appearance that one hand has no clue what the other hand is doing.

Gotta do better than this if you want me to keep believing in you.

Comment by Princess Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 7:44 am
Clearly Pat Collins will blame this one on the legislative leaders, if they didn’t have so much power than the Governor wouldn’t have to call interest groups in the middle of the budget negotiations.

Beware of wolves in sheeps clothing. Also known as, beware of Blagojevich’s running-mates in reformer-speak.

Clearly Quinn has himself to blame for not explaining the operating rules to his campaign staff.

Even Blago was smart enough to do most of his shakedowns 30 days before or 30 days after the budget . . . .

Comment by Hon. Cranial Lamb Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 8:18 am
In case Quinn’s campaign staff needs more training, let me offer this one other point. Don’t call an interest group when one of their bills is sitting on the Governor’s desk. Blago’s people did this, and it was no accident.

Comment by Hon. Cranial Lamb Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 8:21 am
Cold-calling interest groups for money at the end of the session? That’s an ethical blind spot, at the very best. Inexperience doesn’t explain it.

Comment by wordslinger Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 8:27 am
this quinn story is a distraction from the more important budget question and reform bill. it’s too bad because change needs to happen - esp serious campaign finance reform (i.e. transferring $$ between committees)

Comment by Lulu Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 8:28 am
Upon reading the accounts of the contacts Copeland made to the trade associations, it seems to me that this is PROBABLY more of a case of misunderstanding and bad timing than a genuine scandal.

Of course Quinn or any other gubernatorial candidate has to fundraise to get elected. The kind of event Copeland was trying to organize — a fundraiser sponsored by trade associations — isn’t inherently evil, provided, of course, that individuals or groups aren’t REQUIRED to take part in it as a condition or prerequisite for getting any kind of consideration with the governor or legislators.

Where Copeland went wrong was in 1) calling while the GA was still in session (and in the most critical period of session to boot), and 2) suggesting or mentioning a specific amount to donate. These are the things that give the appearance of Blago-style pay to play, which I would think any politician, but especially Quinn, would be bending over backwards to avoid.

Comment by Bookworm Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 8:37 am
A little off topic-

How do you square Quinn’s previous support of the Peotone Airport (”as fast as humanly possible”)with his new push for high speed rail (requesting $400 million for it) and nothing for the airport in the capital bill)?

The A-A caucus is waiting for an answer.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 8:46 am
“She made calls to other groups in the legislative directory asking if whether they would want to have events,” Quinn tells the Trib.

Because when you data mine for political purposes, you need to start with the right source.

I’d rank “you would probably like to have face time with the governor to talk about your industry concerns, and we’re making time available” as the most disturbing aspect of this.

Making Quinn available to discuss “industry concerns” for a $15,000 donation smells like pay to play.

Comment by Zora Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 10:56 am
To “The Fox”: Lesson learned, Mr. Know-it-all, don’t make a smart-alec (see, no profanity in any form) comment when you don’t know what you’re talking about. Hilarious comeback, Rich.

And I have pretty much had it with Patrick Collins. What makes him the arbiter of all things good, ethical and moral? I don’t recall for voting for him, and I don’t think anyone did for that matter. I am tired of his holier-than-thou smug attitude. Enough, already!

Comment by Oh, please.... Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 1:04 pm
The one part not picked up by the press is that she was scheduling meetings with the Governor while asking for money. Face time for campaign donations. I’m not sure you can define it any other way than using your public office for private gain.

Comment by Johnnyc Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 1:25 pm
Anonymous, the only postponed consideration roll calls posted here were of photos taken of the Big Board. No such photo was available to me for this one.

Comment by Rich Miller Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 5:13 pm
nice attempt to make this story go away, but there are so many parts of it that are disturbing - I siriusly wonder if Patrick Collins old boss shouldn’t look into this

Comment by siriusly Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 5:14 pm
Cassandra, right on. Pat Quinn, the reformer is yesterday’s tomatoes. His sidekick Collins has just about ticked down his 15 minutes of Capitol fame and ticked off everyone he needs to move his agenda, make that the Commission’s agenda.

Six, that’s a great question. Can’t say that I’m sad to see the Peotone Airport zeroed out, but he does owe folks an answer.

Comment by Arthur Andersen Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 6:03 pm
My dog ate my homework? I forgot my lunch money? I bet Blago wish he would have thought of this? A mistake? What a crock. Blago’s running mate has proven huimself to be as crooked as his old boss.

Comment by Watcher Saturday, May 23, 09 @ 6:30 pm
It doesn’t really matter WHEN the contributions are solicited–it’s legalised bribery either way.

Comment by Squideshi Sunday, May 24, 09 @ 10:27 am
LINK - The People want an income tax increase NOT an expansion of gambling!!

Comment by collar watchdog Monday, May 25, 09 @ 3:11 pm