* I wondered when he’d get around to doing this…
Gov. Pat Quinn said today that lawmakers should not take their scheduled two-week Spring break unless they’ve passed parts of his construction plan to get people back to work.
Quinn stopped short of saying he would call lawmakers back to Springfield for a special session if they did not approve at least some portions of his plan, a tactic predecessor Rod Blagojevich employed several times during previous budget disputes.
“I don’t think the legislature should go home with people out of work in Illinois,” Quinn said in Chicago today. “We need our friends in labor, friends in business, friends everywhere to let our legislature know that you can’t just sit outside and sniff rosebuds while people are out of work.”
And he’s at it again on another issue…
Governor Pat Quinn says it would be a show of good faith if state lawmakers would cut their pay.
* Meanwhile, Senate President John Cullerton spoke to the SJ-R editorial board today. The paper has lots of highlights online…
“There is no public support for the unions to have the pensions that they have so far. Everybody in the private sector is getting hit,” Cullerton said.
That’s about as blunt as blunt can be.
* Translation: John Filan…
[Cullerton] says House Speaker Michael Madigan, whose fights with Blagojevich over the budget and other issues dominated the legislature for several years, is “very wary of the continued influence of certain policy folks” who worked for Blagojevich and now work for Quinn. He did not name any names.
* By the way, Cullerton and others have suggested that the General Assembly pass a temporary income tax, but Quinn wants no part of it…
Quinn also said he would not support a temporary income tax hike, saying it doesn’t solve “permanent problems.”
* In other news, the Tribune leaves unchallenged Gov. Quinn’s assertions that newly resigned State Police Director Larry Trent was not forced out of his job…
The governor disputed suggestions that former state police Director Larry Trent, who resigned Friday, had been ousted from the post. Trent
But Trent tells the Alton Telegraph that he no longer felt the love…
One issue that surfaced this month followed an investigation by the Chicago Reporter, a monthly investigative publication. The Chicago Reporter reported that the State Police had refused to enforce about 1,800 of 21,000 expungement and sealing orders mandated by state judges. An expungement order calls for authorities to expunge, or remove, criminal convictions from a defendant’s record.
Earlier this week, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan demanded the State Police conduct an audit immediately to determine the exact number of expungement and sealing orders at issue. Madigan also said the ISP should comply with court orders and devise a strategy to reach those people affected by the issue. Madigan said she intended to meet Friday with Quinn about the matter.
“I felt there were some issues that may have concerned the governor,” Trent said. “I didn’t feel the support I needed was there. Certainly, I didn’t need the job, so I felt this was the right time to leave and explore some other opportunities.”