Is Quinn Kidding?
WBEZ reported today that Pat Quinn doesn’t know whether he would raise taxes when he becomes Governor: “Quinn wouldn’t say whether he would raise taxes or not if he were the next governor. He says he doesn’t know enough about the state’s financial situation to make that call. Quinn blames the Blagojevich administration for keeping that information from him.” (http://www.wbez.org/Content.
Just what did Pat Quinn actually do in his six years as Lieutenant Governor? We know he wasn’t rooting out corruption as he promised he would - “In this election, the people will decide who is the best person to root out corruption in state government…I think Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn are the best two." (State Journal-Register, Lieutenant governor candidate: Ryan should have probed scandal, October 21, 2002) - And apparently he hasn’t been following the news either. Anyone who can pick up a newspaper or turn on the television knows that his running mate’s feckless and wasteful financial policies have brought this state to the brink of ruin. Is the Lieutenant Governor’s mansion located under a rock?
The job of Illinois’ Lieutenant Governor is to be ready to take over immediately if the Governor dies, steps down, or is removed. Part of being ready to take over is having a working knowledge of the State, including its financial situation.
In the 1996 Democratic Senatorial primary, Dick Durbin accused Pat Quinn of being a ghost payroller for Dan Walker - "Durbin, trailing Quinn by 10 percentage points in a recent Tribune poll, resurrected charges that Quinn was a ghost payroller, performing patronage tasks in the 1970s for Democratic Gov. Dan Walker while on a state commission’s payroll.” (Chicago Tribune, Durbin Attacks ‘Outsider’ Quinn, February 2, 1996) – I certainly don't agree with Durbin’s old accusations, but right now it looks like Pat Quinn hasn't been doing his job. He didn’t know about Rod Blagojevich’s corruption and he doesn’t know enough about the State’s finances to even say whether he’d raise taxes. Just what does Pat Quinn know?
Either Pat Quinn didn’t do his job, or Illinois doesn’t need a Lieutenant Governor.
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