Governor Quinn: Local Communities Should Have Control in Conceal Carry Law

The Chicago Tribune reported this week Gov. Quinn is looking for ways to tighten Illinois' impending conceal carry law.

Gov. Pat Quinn said earlier this week he thinks Illinois communities should be able to exert some local control when it comes to a state conceal carry gun law, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune. The state is working to create a concealed carry law by the June 9 deadline. A federal court ruled late last year that Illinois’ ban on conceal carry was unconstitutional. "I am not excited about this at all," the Tribune reported Quinn as saying. "If this has to happen, it has to have the proper restrictions and limitations... I think we should make sure it's very tight and I think local communities, wherever they are, should have the option to make it as tight as possible in their community." Quinn also has stated his opposition to …

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Patch on Politics

Gov Can't Keep Track of All His Boards and Commissions

State government grows in the dark, like a fungus. • Bill Daley has an idea to take the party out of state elections. • Time magazine mourns for Illinois.

When Gov. Pat Quinn took office in 2009, he promised to take aim at state boards and commissions stocked with politically connected folks drawing large salaries with little oversight into their activities. He would pare down those panels and save you money. Better Government Association investigative reporter Barbara Rose this month looked into whether Quinn delivered: "... more than three years into Quinn’s watch little has changed, except the number of such units is growing. As troubling, many don’t comply with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, according to a report last year by state Auditor General William Holland." In fact, the governor's office is having a hard time keeping up with it all. "With over 322 boards and commissions, …

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George Pickett

10:50 am on Monday, January 28, 2013

I wonder if he kept the monney?   more ›

Supreme Court Backs Gov's Plan to Close IYC

The decision, which was not unanimous, lifts the preliminary injunction that prevent the Illinois Youth Center-Joliet and other prisons to be closed.

Lower court proceedings aimed at forcing the governor to keep the Illinois Youth Center in Joliet and other prison facilities open were brought to a halt Tuesday by the Illinois Supreme Court. A preliminary injunction to keep the buildings operating was lifted by the decision, according to an article by The Associated Press printed in the Joliet Herald News. Gov. Pat Quinn's spokeswoman Brooke Anderson told the AP that the decision was the right one, supporting the governor's plan so taxpayers “will no longer be on the hook” for spending money buildings that are underutilized and expensive to run. It was not a unanimous decision. Dissenting justices said they believed the court was overstepping its bounds, the story said. Only one court …

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Patch on Politics

Pat Quinn: Worst Governor in One of America's Worst-Run States

Take the Patch Poll: Does Pat Quinn deserve re-election or would you put another Democrat on the ballot in 2014?

Pat Quinn is so unpopular, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey, that Lisa Madigan and Bill Daley would easily beat him in a Democratic primary while Kirk Dillard and Dan Rutherford would topple him in the general election. Quinn says he's going to run for re-election in 2014, but as 2012 comes to an end only 25 percent of Illinois voters approve of the job he's doing as governor. Public Policy Polling says 64 percent of voters disapprove of Quinn's performance — "making him the most unpopular governor PPP has polled on anywhere in the country this year." And there seems to be good reason for that. Last week, 24/7 Wall St. published a ranking of all 50 states, and Illinois emerges as the third-worst-run state in America, …

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Senate Rejects Gov's Decision to Close IYC, but May Not Be Enough

While both houses are expected to support an effort to keep several prisons open, the governor does not have to comply.

The Illinois Senate voted Wednesday to stop several prisons from being closed, including the Illinois Youth Center in Joliet, from being closed, according to a published report. The Illinois House is expected to do the same, essentially overriding a veto of the funding for the facilities issued by Gov. Pat Quinn, a story in the Bloomington Pantagraph said. What's not known, however, is whether the action will stop Quinn, who has the ability to close prisons without legislative approval and has been steadfast in saying he plans to do so. “It would be wrong, but it is completely his option,” state Sen. Shane Cultra (R-Onarga) told the paper.

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Patch on Politics

Bipartisan Backing for an Obamacare Play in Illinois

Durbin and Kirk support $150 million loan for SimpleHx • Few approve of Quinn • Convicts collect $2 million in unemployment • Poll: Biggert-Foster very close • State House candidate's domestic battery case dropped with scant attention.

One aspect of Obamacare is drawing bipartisan support — at least in Illinois. Democrat Dick Durbin and Republican Mark Kirk both back an outfit called SimpleHx, which wants a $150 million federal loan to establish the state's first health insurance co-op under the president's federal healthcare law. The people behind SimpleHx met at Northwestern University last year while pursuing their MBAs, according to Modern Healthcare reporter Kristen Schorsch. SimpleHx is competing against four proposals, including one backed by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council, a trade group founded in 1935 that represents more than 150 local hospitals and health care organizations. If the proposals are similar, in terms of promises to save money and …

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Letter: Get Rid of Quinn Income Tax Increase

Send letters to the editor to karen@patch.com.

On Saturday of last week I had the privilege meeting state representative candidate Bob Kalnicky.   I had seen his mailers and commercials but [there] he was face to face at my front door. I asked Mr. Kalnicky the most important question to me during this campaign, when he gets to Congress would he get rid of Pat Quinn’s income tax increase that is stealing my money? I told him if he answered my question the right way I would vote for him [for the 98th District House seat] and write a letter to the editor for him, so here you go, Bob.   I am sure you can gather that Bob Kalnicky committed to me that he would work to get rid of Pat Quinn’s tax on his first day in office. It seems ambitious but I liked his attitude. It showed to me that Bob …

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Harper: Governor Not Hearing District's Message on Pensions

Despite Dist. 202 making a personal plea to not shift pension payments to school district, Gov. Pat Quinn either "didn’t understand or didn’t care," superintendent says.

This was written by Plainfield School District 202 Supt. John Harper. About 40 percent of the student who attend District 202 schools live in Joliet. We start the 2012-13 school year with same high hopes and expectations for great teaching and learning for all of our students that makes our schools so strong and vibrant. However, we also begin the year with the same financial challenge which has plagued us for the last several years: unreliable state funding. Unfortunately, to make matters worse, Gov. Quinn wants to shift teacher pension payments, which the state now pays, to local school districts to help clean up the state’s own financial mess. Shifting teacher pensions to local districts would cost Plainfield School District 202 $10 …

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Lawsuit Keeps Youth Center Open Past Aug. 31

The facility in Joliet was to close this Friday, but the state is attempting to negotiate a settlement of a suit filed by union employees.

Joliet's Illinois Youth Center will not close Friday as originally planned under a cost-saving decree issued by Gov. Pat Quinn. In a letter wrritten by Illinois Department of Corrections Director S.A. Godinez -- obtained by The Associated Press -- the Joliet facility at 2848 McDonough St., super-maximum-security Tamms in southern Illinois and two others will remain open as the state negotiates with the employees' union that filed suit to temporarily halt the closures. The AP story said the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees lawsuit maintains the state is obligated by contract to negotiate the terms of closures and inmate transfers. Arbitrations are being held this week to work out the details, the story said. "…

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Political Rewind: Bad Week for Illinois Democrats Gets Worse

As we start a new week, it's always good to get caught up on state politics. Here's an easy guide to what happened last week.

Editor's Note: This article was created by aggregating news articles from Illinois Watchdog, formerly Illinois Statehouse News. SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Democrats had a no-good, very bad week, starting Wednesday when disgruntled state workers and retirees booed and heckled them off the stage during the usually upbeat Governor’s Day rally at the Illinois State Fair. It ended Friday, when lawmakers called back for a taxpayer-funded special session by Gov. Pat Quinn were unable to come to any kind of agreement on pension reform for the state, which continues to drown in pension debt. Jeers for Quinn, other Democratic leaders at state fair Thousands of people gathered at the Illinois State Fair Wednesday, officially “Governor’s Day” at the fair…

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