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* I’ve left a message with the Department of Corrections, but we need an answer to how this alleged murderer got out of prison and we need it right freaking now. What a tragedy…
A parolee was charged with murdering a 16-year-old boy after the two exchanged looks outside a South Side convenience store last week, Cook County prosecutors said today.
Randall White, 42, of the 11900 block of South Wallace Street, was charged with the murder of Fred Couch Jr. outside Big Sam’s Mini Mart, 333 W. 119th St. shortly after 8 p.m. Wednesday.
…prisoners convicted of certain felonies are eligible to receive additional time off their sentences under various programs, including the Meritorious Good Time Push program, which was rescinded last week by Gov. Pat Quinn amid controversy.
Illinois Department of Corrections records show White was paroled on Dec. 16, just two weeks before Couch’s murder. Department spokeswoman Januari Smith said White may have been released early under MGT Push or another program.
If this guy was released under MGT Push - the secret early release program that has been the subject of so much uproar lately - then God help Pat Quinn because nobody else will.
Let’s please try to contain the anger in comments. It may not be easy but we don’t have all the facts as of yet.
*** UPDATE *** The Tribune has updated its story…
Department spokeswoman Januari Smith said White received 180 days of credit for good behavior, but was not the recipient of any time under the controversial Meritorious Good Time Push program, which was rescinded last week by Gov. Pat Quinn.
The governor better pray that she’s accurate.
What we need here is an investigation. A real one, not one controlled by the governor. Maybe somebody with a committee chairmanship ought to take a look at this.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:37 pm
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did someone mention game-changer???
Comment by bored now Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:47 pm
More like game over.
Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:51 pm
His name isn’t on this list…
http://www.idoc.state.il.us/subsections/news/MGT/MGT%20SMGT%20Impact%20List.pdf
Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:53 pm
i hope this was not a tragedy that could have been averted…
Comment by gallery walker Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:54 pm
There’s a dispute over whether that list is accurate.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:54 pm
Let the Willie Hortoning of Pat Quinn begin. Quinn admitted it was a mistake, corrected it and has moved on. This won’t change too many votes no matter how Quinn’s detractors try.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:54 pm
This was edited into the story
Department spokeswoman Januari Smith said White received 180 days of credit for good behavior, but was not the recipient of any time under the controversial Meritorious Good Time Push program, which was rescinded last week by Gov. Pat Quinn.
Comment by i'm just saying Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:55 pm
These distinctions may be lost on voters when negative ads start running. Phineas, I support Pat and hope he’s reelected but you are completely wrong on this. This type of thing is VERY powerful.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 5:58 pm
Quinn’s performance is his own worst detractor. He did in fact release a known murderer early to murder again. That is distracting enough for me to never consider him competent to govern - End of story!
Comment by A Citizen Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:03 pm
everytime there is a crime committed by someone who was released from prison while MGT Push was in effect this thing will continue to have legs.
Each time AP or some other non-Quinn administration source will have to find out and tell the public whether or not the criminal was in anyway associated with the MGT Push debacle.
Just having the Quinn admiminstration verfiy and say what is or what isn’t is insufficient.
Comment by Quinn and his camps have gotta understand... Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:11 pm
Let’s let the facts come out, folks. This parolee could have been paroled from a small time drug charge, THEN committed murder while on parole. Also, let’s remember that DoC is obligated to parole inmates once their time is served. Having said that, if this was an “Early Release” parolee (this is distinct from MGT program), it was only a matter of time that one of those parolees committed a violent crime. It was bound to happen.
Comment by unspun Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:11 pm
From a campaign standpoint, does it really matter if he was part of MGT or not? Any media consultant should be able to easily link the two and paint the picture of “Pat Quinn - Accomplice to Murder”
If Hynes and his people blow this, they have no one to blame but themselves. Quinn is committing more game-changing mistakes than Cutler in the red zone.
Comment by L.S. Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:17 pm
From the article:
“At the time of the shooting, White was on parole for an August 2007 conviction for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison. Under Illinois law, White would be required to serve half of his sentence, meaning he wouldn’t have been paroled until early summer 2010.”
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:18 pm
===This parolee could have been paroled from a small time drug charge===
Read the linked story before commenting, please.
===At the time of the shooting, White was on parole for an August 2007 conviction for unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six years in prison. Under Illinois law, White would be required to serve half of his sentence, meaning he wouldn’t have been paroled until early summer 2010.===
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:18 pm
If White started his time in August 2007, his minimum sentence would have ended in August, 2010. If you peal 180 days from August, 2010, White shouldn’t have been released until sometime in February, 2010.
If White was released in December, Department of Corrections released White early for some reason.
At least, that’s how my math figures it.
Januari Smith might be hoping that the journalists are too inattentive to do the math, but the explanation of 180 days for good behavior only makes me more suspicious.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:25 pm
I think we need to wait before we jump to conclusions on this.
As I understand it, the MGT push was focused on inmates who were new to IDOC custody. This guy had already been in IDOC custody for 2 and half years at the time of his parole. I think he was released under the lax parole rules that were already in place before the MGT push started.
But even if that is true, Quinn still has a big problem because every parolee who commits a crime from now until election day (and parolees get arrested probably a dozen times a day around the state,) is going to be put under scrutiny in way they haven’t before.
It probably isn’t fair, but Quinn might end up owning this murder anyway.
Comment by Sam E. Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:30 pm
have to agree with some of the other posters here–it doesn’t matter to alot of the public what program this occurred under–it is a tragedy that will be linked to other recent parolees nonetheless..
Comment by quinn fan Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:33 pm
This is very, very bad for the governor, regardless of whether this was a MGT Push release. The distinction is likely to be lost either way.
Quinn allowed a new and controversial early release program to go into effect. This alleged killer was released early. Does it matter if this guy was released under MGT Push or if he would have been released if MGT never happened?
I’m not sure the facts will help Quinn at this point. Maybe enough to get past February 2, but this is going to hang over his head long after the primary.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:36 pm
Offenders can earn additional time off their sentences by going to school or participating in drug programs.
Comment by retired DOC..tg! Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:38 pm
6 year sentence and gets 1 year and a few months?????????
Comment by HERE YOU GO Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:50 pm
retired DOC, if Randall White was released early under normal early release programs, why didn’t Januari Smith say this?
The 180 days for good behavior means Smith would have been incarcerated into February. If White qualified for 180 days for good behavior plus 60 days for education or participation in drug rehab, why didn’t she say so?
Smells to me like White was released early to save money.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 6:56 pm
Cynic, this won’t amount to a hill of beans. It is a morbidly pathetic attempt to brand Quinn some type of killer. It’s not Quinn who is praying the guy wasn’t part of the early release program-it’s his enemies who are praying he was. Which to me is sickening.
But it really doesn’t matter. The voters know who Quinn is and aren’t going to blame him for this one. His detractors need to keep looking under other rocks and maybe they can find something that’s even more horrible to pin on Quinn
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:06 pm
“The voters know who Quinn is and aren’t going to blame him for this one”
Sounds more like wishful thinking of a supporter than a real fact. Polls show Quinn’s support is soft. Other than being the successor to the worst governor ever and going to a lot of military funerals, do voters really know Pat Quinn all that well? Under the dome, sure, but in regular people land? this could tank him.
Comment by L.S. Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:11 pm
The voters know Quinn, hahahahahahaha!
Comment by Oneman Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:14 pm
Oh my.
So he serves roughly about 40% of his sentence, is a ‘behaved’ prisoner and gets 10% credit for it (under some problem or another). Too bad he was not a ‘behaved’ person on the outside, looking at his inmate search status info seems he behaves better in than out. What the man has actually served over the years I don’t know, but inmate search states he’s been sentenced roughly 28 years worth of time since 1985: stolen vehicles, drugs, firearm charges.
Comment by Cindy Lou Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:16 pm
Phineas, are you doing 2 sets a nite at the funny bone? Whether this is enough to turn out the intensity depressed;union dominated Democtratic electorate is et to be determined.
Comment by guy falkes Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:23 pm
Another thing all of the sentence calculators on here need to remember is that it is likely this offender received some credit for time served in county jail before his conviction.
Having worked at IDOC I know first hand just how complicated state statutes make it for sentences to be calculated accurately.
Comment by hard knocks Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:32 pm
Carl, I can’t speak for Januari just giving you facts about other ways offenders can be released early. Januari doesn’t know all of those guidelines and would have to ask someone who works directly with his records.
Comment by retired DOC..tg! Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:32 pm
Perhaps this hurts Quinn, but in a black comedy sense its funny that it would. The entire Democratic Party should take the blame for this based on decades of liberality on law and order (remember State Sen Obama’s opposition to tough-on-gangs legislation?). This convicts release appears reasonably close to being “by the book” and the problem is that “the book” is too lax.
Gun crimes and violent crimes should pull stiffer sentences. And the death penalty should be restored.
Comment by Conservative Republican Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:33 pm
Getting credit for time in county jail is a plausible reason that White’s release was by-the-book.
However, what Januari Smith said doesn’t make sense. It may be that Smith’s incompetence is the issue here and that Department of Corrections applied policy correctly.
Hiring incompetent spokespeople doesn’t inspire my confidence, but it’s better than learning that penny-pinching caused the death of a 16-year old.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 7:49 pm
I agree that it doesn’t matter whether he was released under MGT or not. The question is, how are these decisions being made, and what criteria are being applied, not what the program was called. Who is making the individual decisions, is there are supervisory/management review process, how much discretion at the front end.
If the statutes are excessively complicated, the procedures should not be. Some well-paid somebody in DOC has more than enough time to develop a decision-making tool than can be used successfully by the greenest decision-maker.
Comment by cassandra Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 8:02 pm
DOC will release nearly 30,000 inmates this year and 50% of them will be back in prison within the next 3 years. I wouldn’t be surprized that a few dozen may commit murders. Does that mean we shouldn’t realise any prisoners? We already have 5% of the world’s population and 25% of the incarcerated world’s prisoners. Grow up.
Comment by Louis Howe Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 8:13 pm
Phineas, if you would pull out your 3dbb, you would see that this issue is a game-changer only because new things keep coming out about it.
Quinn is a good guy. It took him too long to address this properly and he initially lied about it. His support is soft and it is not that anyone really wanted to see him particularly succeed, we just wanted the nightmare over. Now we have to ask if we think he is up to a full term (far from the worst ever to seek it), and we actually have a CHOICE and no shortage of good candidates in both parties.
Comment by Richard Afflis Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 8:17 pm
Well, Louis, I guess I can be glad you’re not the governor’s spokeperson and sendings any condolences to the mother of the 16 year old. I somehow doubt your number figures will soften the blow for her. Hmmm, imagine that, just ‘grow up’ and get over it. Nice.
How about we find a happy medium in the process and take an close look at each individual case instead of a generic standard before we let ‘em out?
Comment by Cindy Lou Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 8:23 pm
The thrust of the Quinn early relese initiative is that there are many prisoners who shouldn’t be incarcerated. It ignores the fact that, particularly under Blagojevich, there was an imperative to cut the DOC budget by getting inmates our. Deanne Benos was the prime mover.
She is still there, and her prescriptions are music to the ears of Quinn and Stermer who are social workers at heart.
These policies must be stopped. Not everyone is fit for release. Let’s have a policy based on safety and what is best for the community at large, not on budget considerations alone.
Comment by truthteller Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 8:37 pm
Cindy Lou…Gee…wouldn’t it be great if we could predict who was going to commit a crime and which criminals were safe to release..well we can’t make those predictions and it’s foolish and ignorant to pretend that we have that ability…And frankly, I resent spending 100s of millions on prisons and underfunding our colleges and public education…Studies consistantly demonstrate that the length of the sentence has no relationship to the likely hood of a released inmate committing a crime after they are released. So releasing somebody a few days early doesn’t really make much diffence.
Comment by Louis Howe Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 8:46 pm
A good look at their rap sheet might be a major starting point aka constant repeat offender.
And if you’d really like to get crappy over it I think you might also find people foolish enough to not want to live in a society where they are highly educated but can’t walk the streets to get to work, go to the store or to a beach. If crime is your agenda Louis, than go for it, use your education and figure out a way to solve crime rates instead of whining over your tax dollars to pen up our present and growing population of offenders. Make drugs disappear, make everybody equal so one does not be tempted to steal, mug, murder for profit blah blah.
Find the fix, Louis, then you get to call *me* foolish.
Comment by Cindy Lou Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 8:58 pm
Whites custody date is 06-16-07 Cook county. He was sentenced to 6 years. Under most cases he would receive credit for his county Jail time. Under the MGT good time rule and inmate would serve 1/2 his time if he had no good time revocations. He would also receive 90 days good time credit at the beginning of his sentence and another 90 days at the end of his sentence. If he did not have and good time revoked. So he would have been paroled 12-16-09.
Comment by BOB Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:03 pm
Well BOB, if your right, the Quinn bashers will have to keep looking for a way to smear him. Who knows, maybe somebody else can get killed that will be more exploitable. After all, Chicago alone has about 600 per year so I’m sure you can find another to pin your high hopes on.
Better luck next time guys and keep up that high road. It suits ya’s.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:18 pm
General and slightly o/t, but why is Benos still there and allegedly “runnin’ the joint” like she did under Rod?
As Carl notes, at this point one also might be wise to question the credibility and accuracy of the spokesperson before all the facts are revealed.
Let’s face it, folks, Januari ain’t Brown or Schuh.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:24 pm
I don’t know the statute, but when dealing with any inmate with a sentence over 2 years, you take 6 months off the front, 6 months off the back and divide the rest in half and that is how much actual time the inmate serves. A six year sentence is 2 and a haLF and has been for at least 15 years
Comment by anon Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:28 pm
PJW,
Maybe next time we’ll get a more exploitable victim? Is that what you said? Wow. Speaking for myself and 99% of the rest of us here (if I may), you’re way out of line.
I hope BOB is right, that this was a random fluke, not related to any policy shift. But as a Democrat, I’d hate to be wrong on February 3. If that’s a smear of the governor in your opinion, fine. But please don’t accuse anyone here of hoping for another tragedy.
Comment by 47th Ward Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:30 pm
Is Quinn any more responsible for this person being murdered than George Ryan was for the Willis children that were killed in the horrible accident? Ryan wasn’t directly responsible, but he allowed actions to happened that did contribute to their deaths.
Same with this situation, Quinn is responsible for the early release program, of which White might have been released under.
Poor decisions by Governors have consequences - the voters have the responsibility to hold Quinn accountable.
Comment by Furloughed Illini Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:30 pm
I’d like to take a look at White’s disciplinary record while he was locked up. Did he deserve 180 days of good time–even if it wasn’t from MGT push?
I believe that you can access his history from the IDOC web site.
Comment by Annon2 Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:33 pm
The guy may have gotten credit for time served in a county jail.
Comment by Cal Skinner Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:34 pm
Wait, your standard for credibility is Steve Brown?
Comment by aloha Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:38 pm
47th Ward,
This isn’t a random fluke-inmates are constantley released early. I’ll bet 90% of the murders of Chicago are committed by former inmates with priors that were released early.
Trying to find one to pin on Quinn is low level politics plane and simple.
Comment by Phineas J. Whoopee Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 9:41 pm
An inmate gets day for day, that’s the law. In addition, he/she can receive 90 days of MGT, and in some cases, if they are eligible, they can receive another 90 days of SMGT. If Mr. White received the full 180, one would assume that he followed the rules and deserved all of the good time. I guess that we’ll find out soon enough.
At this point, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter if he was an MGT push inmate; he was awarded good time and let out.
Comment by Annon2 Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 10:06 pm
Welcome to Pat Quinn’s Amateur Hour
Let’s spin the Early Release Wheel of Fortune shall we?
Round’ and ’round she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows.”
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 10:15 PM CST
Ill. suspends 2nd release program pending review
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn suspended a second early release program for state prisoners Tuesday as he faces unrelenting criticism over violent inmates who were secretly set free after just weeks behind bars.
The newly halted plan was announced in September as a way to cut costs. It is separate from a secret release program known as “MGT Push” that Quinn ceased after it came to light last month.
The Corrections Department confirmed Tuesday night that Quinn stopped the publicized program until he can name a public safety officer to review it. It was intended to send home 1,000 nonviolent offenders early, having them finish their sentences on electronic detention.
http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2010/01/05/ap-state-il/us_prisons_secret_release.txt
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 11:28 pm
This may call for another “PBR”
Pat’s Blue Ribbon (Commission)
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 11:30 pm
Phineas J., an attorney once told me that 50% of homicides go unsolved.
And we know a percentage of the solved homicides get pinned on the wrong suspect thanks to our highly ethical, highly competent members of law enforcement.
So, I doubt there’s solid data to support the claim that 90% of Chicago murders are committed by former inmates who were released early.
Listening to “conservatives” spout things that clearly aren’t true or completely ignore niceties like the U.S. Constitution remind me that it’s an error to elect a Republican that embraces “conservatism” to any office.
Comment by Carl Nyberg Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 11:34 pm
{Asked why the program was being suspended, spokespeople for the prison department and Quinn’s office would only say it was pending a review of all early release programs that will be conducted when the governor appoints someone to the new position of chief public safety officer in the corrections agency.
Quinn announced the position last week when he suspended a different, more controversial early release program that put hundreds of inmates back on the street after accelerating their good-time credit. That program included prisoners convicted of violent crimes.}
They should have been honest in answering the question and simply stated that the establishment of this position was a Hail Mary pass by the Governor with the hopes of just trying to survive through the February 2nd Democratic Primary, before someone gets seriously injured or killed.
Oh wait………. never mind.
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 11:38 pm
I look for Quinn to announce he’s creating a couple more special DOC gatekeeper positions, then send in 3 or 4 more 30 day wonders from some south Chicago ward healer to review “Good Time” allocations.
Quinn keeps adding inexperienced people into the state bureaucracy which only creates more havoc. The problem is Quinn’s executive leadership and inability to focus his governor’s office staff.
It’s all starts at the top and flows downhill from there. Adding more people only makes the problem worse!!!
Comment by Louis Howe Tuesday, Jan 5, 10 @ 11:50 pm
All around the mulberry bush
The monkey chased the weasel.
The monkey thought ’twas all in fun.
Pop! goes the weasel.
{Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks said today he will call a hearing of his House committee on government administration to question Gov. Pat Quinn’s staff and top prison officials over a now-halted plan that had released more than 800 inmates weeks ahead of schedule in a money-saving move.
In response to Franks’ call for a hearing of the House State Government Administration Committee, the Democratic governor’s office issued a statement noting Erickson was “leading a comprehensive, top-to-bottom review” of the meritorious good time program and “we look forward to his report.”
But Franks questioned the validity of a review that involved Quinn’s chief of staff and prison director.
“I’m not interested in the report,” Franks said. “It’s not independent.”}
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 1:02 am
The Bright One delivers a wake up call in the morning edition:
{A west suburban man sentenced to prison for murder conspiracy was freed early under a controversial state program that Gov. Quinn called a “mistake” and discontinued last week, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found. Also sprung early were 20 other men with killings or attempted murder in their criminal backgrounds, records show. Six were convicted of murder, five of second-degree murder, one of manslaughter, one of murder conspiracy and seven of attempted murder.}
Comment by Quinn T. Sential Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 5:22 am
Re: {A west suburban man sentenced to prison for murder conspiracy was freed early under a controversial state program that Gov. Quinn called a “mistake” and discontinued last week, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis has found. Also sprung early were 20 other men with killings or attempted murder in their criminal backgrounds, records show. Six were convicted of murder, five of second-degree murder, one of manslaughter, one of murder conspiracy and seven of attempted murder.}
So, this explains Quinn’s abrupt shutdown of his second early prison release program?
So Quinn or possibly Bob Reed got a call from a someone in the media who said we have a story that we are going to run…
So, Quinn or his person were likely asked for comment, didn’t have one, but quickly scrambled to get ahead of the story? The Quinn administration has been in damage control for more than a week over its early prison release programs.
I fear that Michael Randle might resign soon and the Quinn administration will (try to) conclude the early prison release matter over. That will mean that the public may never get answers or the truth about the early release programs.
Comment by Will County Woman Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 6:52 am
Based on what I heard in my bowling league last night, Quinn is in major trouble over these early releases. BIG TIME.
Comment by Louis G. Atsaves Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 8:15 am
Anyone but Dan Hynes I think could really capitalize on this early release controversy. I just don’t see people saying, “I can’t wait to vote for Dan Hynes.” Dan just does not have any passion. People trust Pat Quinn. I see no movement. The economy remains the big issue. I don’t believe this story is a game breaker by any stretch of the imagination.
Comment by anon Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 8:21 am
Normally being an incumbent would be an advantage in a primary but Quinn’s general incompetence and lack of ability to govern is turning his incumbency into an advantage for his opponent. How many more people have to be hurt or even murdered before voters send Quinn into retirement? There are almost 4 weeks left. How many more screw ups and flip flops will occur before Feb.? With Quinn, anything can happen and probably will. Its time to put an end to amateur hour.
Comment by Bill Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 8:28 am
==People trust Pat Quinn==
Yeah, like who? I’ve heard this a lot from Quinn supporters so I guess its part of the myth that his campaign is trying to foster. Nobody who knows Quinn trusts him.
Ask the family of Fred Couch Jr. if they trust Pat Quinn.
Comment by Bill Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 8:31 am
Quinn is Toast. He may survive the primary, but the republicans will nail him on this. Even if White was not part of the early release the die is cast, and this issue will just add to the slew of negatives (budget, Blago connections, etc.)
Comment by curious Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 8:38 am
Quinn is toast and Hynes had better get in front of this. They all promised that once Blago was gone they would clean house, but the same old hacks are running the state. Hynes needs to make it clear he will clean house and get rid of all the Blago hacks.
Oops, he can’t the Blago hacks are Madigan Cronies, if he takes that pledge he is done. Madigan made the mistake of having a bad democrat once. He will take a republican next time.
Comment by the Patriot Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 9:14 am
As I have been saying, Quinn is a damaged incumbant. Enough Illinoisans are displeased towards incumbants more than usual. Weak incumbants should not be renominated if the party wishes to keep that seat.
Incumbants begin this election cycle with several marks against them. Especially in Illinois. Incumbant-based electoral edges have been offset by the past year’s events, both politically and economically.
Quinn had a chance to demonstrate tough, yet politically acute leadership over the past year - and he failed to do that. He had a honeymoon with fair-minded voters, hence his current poll numbers. They do not yet reflect an accurate appraisal of Mr. Quinn.
The honeymoon is ending. The question for us is to peer into the future to see if Quinn’s previous political support will hold until November. The guy’s polling numbers don’t show any concrete reason for the support he is given. Eventually, this will disappear as Illinoisan’s expectations continue to fall.
Quinn hasn’t taken any really popular stands. He doesn’t really stand for anything, other than the fact that he isn’t Blagojevich and has been in office only a year. Illinoisans sense that he is a nice guy, but with news like this - they will begin to see him as a nice guy who isn’t a good governor. Quinn hasn’t given us any real reasons to vote for him, even after a year in office.
If Quinn is nominated, news and events will fight him tooth and nail, regardless of the GOP nominee. If the GOP actually doesn’t commit political suicide and selects a decent candidate - then Quinn will be a goner.
Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 9:28 am
fear not, PQ is gonna hire a “senior public safety officer” (Spizzo?)to review all these programs before the gates swing wide open again.
The last couple times he has hired “Spizzo’s” we got a shady character from Ohio for DoC who should be doing this in the first place and a 29-year old platoon commander to “lead” the State Police. Pat, the clock is ticking, baby.
Comment by Arthur Andersen Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 9:31 am
Phineas J. Whoopee , anon @ 8:21, et al.,
As few know better than those who read TCFB, in politicis, perception becomes the reality.
As for Pat Quinn, most people view him as an okay guy to have a beer with — as opposed to his predecessor who could spoil even that innocent and enjoyable pastime — but his mensch persona does NOT translate into “trust.”
He increasingly comes across as everyone’s favorite, bumbling, disheveled, never-quite-successful uncle who forgets to pull up his fly before walking out the door each morning. They let him live in the house because he means well, but they’re not turning over to him the family checkbook and investment portfolio.
People will forgive quirkiness, but they won’t forgive (or forget) incompetence. He’ll be saddled with this Willie Horton-esque tale of horror. He’ll also be ridiculed for signing into law the campaign finance reform bill that reforms nothing, other than to only further strengthen the hands of those most responsible for this state’s crippling political paralysis (i.e. Madigan & Cullerton).
If Hynes were a sharper knife in the drawer than he is, if he truly knew how to lead (and campaign), he’d be slicing Quinn to pieces over these and his other missteps.
Be assured that if Hynes doesn’t, the Republican primary victor will.
Comment by Surely You Jest Wednesday, Jan 6, 10 @ 9:48 am