Nice guys finish last
Michael Madigan.
“He has been under the delusion that Michael Madigan is his friend,” Miller says. “Michael Madigan is nobody’s friend. Quinn has also been under the delusion that if he made friends with [Senate President] John Cullerton, that Cullerton would pull Madigan along, but that’s bass-ackwards.”
“I think Madigan still holds a grudge against Quinn because of the Cutback Amendment,” Wheeler says, referring to Quinn’s 1980 constitutional amendment that eliminated multi-member districts, reducing the size of the House by 59 members. “It’s ironic because it actually helped Madigan by concentrating power with the legislative leaders.”
Quinn has also created his own share of controversies. He oversaw the early release of nearly 2,000 Illinois inmates – several hundred of whom had committed violent crime and served just a few days or weeks in prison. A handful even made news for committing further violent crimes once released. Quinn has also fought with state employee unions over layoffs, angering a key voting bloc that usually votes Democratic without hesitation. He recently gave raises to members of his personal
staff in the midst of the state’s financial crisis and dealt with the public uproar by doubling from 12 to 24 the number of furlough days for non-union workers under his control.
In January, Quinn’s then-chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, reported himself to Illinois Executive Inspector General James Wright for inadvertently using his state e-mail to send three messages related to Quinn’s campaign, a relatively minor violation of state ethics law. Quinn subsequently fired Wright, a Blagojevich appointee, the same day Wright submitted his final report on the incidents to Quinn’s office. Stermer resigned to avoid becoming a “distraction” for Quinn’s campaign. Quinn claims he didn’t see the report until after he fired Wright, but the timing of the firing cast Quinn in a poor light nonetheless.
But Quinn isn’t letting the poll numbers, the financial crisis or his various missteps shake his self-confidence.
“You have to make tough decisions,” Quinn says. “This is not a job for people like Senator Brady who don’t want to take positions until after the election. … I think when they come to vote on November second, they’ll see I’m an honest guy, doing his level best to steer Illinois through a difficult time.”
Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].
