Irrelevant. That is Illinois State Senate President John Cullerton's description of Pat Quinn. Cullerton may have said it, but there is a good chance most legislators on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers of the General Assembly think the same thing.
Quinn did the bare minimum. He sent the General Assembly a budget. He did nothing to promote it. He did nothing to defend it. Quinn just dithered. Hoping against hope someone, anyone would listen to his voice crying across the prairie. "Spend, tax borrow, borrow, spend, tax."
Quinn has no political capital in the General Assembly, except for a few phony goo goos who think he is one of them.
Incompetent, irresponsible, ineffective, and ineffectual are just as descriptive of the governor. Quinn does not have the fiscal or political skills to save Illinois. He does not need them. Quinn does not want Illinois saved. He wants it destroyed.
How does one explain his reckless abandon with the people's money? How does one explain his kow-towing to the unions who bought and own him? How does one explain his disastrous anti-business policies?
Like Nero, playing an instrument while watching Rome burn, Pat Quinn is wandering the streets of Springfield while Illinois is razed. While the state is crashing all around him, the legislature is trying to hold things together.
They also exacted some revenge. They passed bills Quinn was opposed to. They shelved bills Quinn was in favor of. They slashed Quinn's budget.
Quinn should have sensed something was amiss when House Speaker Mike Madigan made a pact with Republican minority leader Tom Cross. A pact that would neutralize the governor. If he would not act, they would. Now the power structure is altered. Instead of a Quinn, Madigan, Cullerton power troika, it is Madigan, Cross, and Cullerton. Quinn has been cut off at the knees. Ignored. Neutered.
With Quinn wanting to spend more, tax more, and borrow more, Mike Madigan is starting to look like the fiscal conservative in the room. The adult. The decision maker. Tom Cross brings the added heft for the House to do the heavy lifting.
It was a mistake to elect Pat Quinn as governor. He barely defeated Bill Brady on irrelevant social issues and an extra push from the unions who bought him. The people who pushed him over the top were rewarded with reckless union contracts and pay to play jobs.
In a time when the state's fiscal situation was worsening voters decided their petty wedge issues were more important. We are now paying a very big price. This is the case when litmus tests and wedge issues come into play during a crisis. You get bad governance.
Pat Quinn has demonstrated he is not fit to govern. He is irrelevant. He made himself irrelevant. He is now a nobody. He took himself off the field of battle. While Illinois goes down the tubes Pat Quinn is hiding behind his spokes-weasels. Saying nothing. Doing nothing.
31 May, 2011
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Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/middle-class-guy/2011/05/irrelevant.html
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Quinn did the bare minimum. He sent the General Assembly a budget. He did nothing to promote it. He did nothing to defend it. Quinn just dithered. Hoping against hope someone, anyone would listen to his voice crying across the prairie. "Spend, tax borrow, borrow, spend, tax."
Quinn has no political capital in the General Assembly, except for a few phony goo goos who think he is one of them.
Incompetent, irresponsible, ineffective, and ineffectual are just as descriptive of the governor. Quinn does not have the fiscal or political skills to save Illinois. He does not need them. Quinn does not want Illinois saved. He wants it destroyed.
How does one explain his reckless abandon with the people's money? How does one explain his kow-towing to the unions who bought and own him? How does one explain his disastrous anti-business policies?
Like Nero, playing an instrument while watching Rome burn, Pat Quinn is wandering the streets of Springfield while Illinois is razed. While the state is crashing all around him, the legislature is trying to hold things together.
They also exacted some revenge. They passed bills Quinn was opposed to. They shelved bills Quinn was in favor of. They slashed Quinn's budget.
Quinn should have sensed something was amiss when House Speaker Mike Madigan made a pact with Republican minority leader Tom Cross. A pact that would neutralize the governor. If he would not act, they would. Now the power structure is altered. Instead of a Quinn, Madigan, Cullerton power troika, it is Madigan, Cross, and Cullerton. Quinn has been cut off at the knees. Ignored. Neutered.
With Quinn wanting to spend more, tax more, and borrow more, Mike Madigan is starting to look like the fiscal conservative in the room. The adult. The decision maker. Tom Cross brings the added heft for the House to do the heavy lifting.
It was a mistake to elect Pat Quinn as governor. He barely defeated Bill Brady on irrelevant social issues and an extra push from the unions who bought him. The people who pushed him over the top were rewarded with reckless union contracts and pay to play jobs.
In a time when the state's fiscal situation was worsening voters decided their petty wedge issues were more important. We are now paying a very big price. This is the case when litmus tests and wedge issues come into play during a crisis. You get bad governance.
Pat Quinn has demonstrated he is not fit to govern. He is irrelevant. He made himself irrelevant. He is now a nobody. He took himself off the field of battle. While Illinois goes down the tubes Pat Quinn is hiding behind his spokes-weasels. Saying nothing. Doing nothing.
31 May, 2011
--
Source: http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/middle-class-guy/2011/05/irrelevant.html
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Note how prices continue to fall even further below the long term trend line for Chicago.
Over the weekend Thomas Roeser passed from us. For decades, Roeser was one of Chicago's most visible and versatile conservatives. Roeser was 82.
