*** UPDATE 4:45 pm *** I’m told that the central committee has decided to slate Gov. Pat Quinn. More in a bit if I get something.
* My great pal Abdon Pallasch with the Sun-Times is reporting the same thing on Twitter…
The Cook County Democratic Party, on final vote, slated Pat Quinn for governor.
* Dan Hynes campaign press release…
Dan Hynes for Governor campaign spokesman Matt McGrath issued the following statement upon the news that Pat Quinn had accepted to be slated by the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee ahead of February’s primary:
“Is there a single core principle to which Pat Quinn will consistently adhere? Despite saying as recently as this morning that he has always supported open primaries, the Governor apparently sees no contradiction in asking and working to be slated by the Cook County Democratic Party. Long before becoming Governor, Pat Quinn sought a reputation as an outsider in part by railing against the very entity whose support he eagerly accepts today. It would seem that his prior support for open primaries was nothing more than political rhetoric. It is acts like this that give the people of Illinois reason to question Pat Quinn’s sincerity.”
* Quinn’s statement…
Statement from Governor Pat Quinn on today’s decision by the Cook County Democratic Committee to endorse his candidacy for Governor of Illinois
“I am happy to receive today’s endorsement of my candidacy for Governor of Illinois.
“As I told the committee members this morning, I have spent the last seven months doing what I have been doing for the past three decades – standing up for the people of Illinois. As Governor, I am working hard every day to bring good jobs and economic recovery to every corner of the Land of Lincoln.
“Throughout my career in public service, I have won endorsements from political groups, civic groups, and labor organizations throughout our state. As we go forward, I will continue to seek the support of groups – both large and small – as we work together to make the will of the people the law of the land in Illinois.”
* Abdon’s Sun-Times piece on the Stroger debacle…
A motion for an open primary narrowly failed, so Stroger’s backers pushed for a roll-call vote in which each of the 80 committeemen, including the dozen or so on Stroger’s payroll in Cook County government, had to go on record stating who they supported among the five candidates.
Stroger didn’t get a majority of that vote, either.
“I think that was a miscalculation on his part,” said Ald. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), who came in second after Stroger.
U.S. Rep. Danny Davis came in third, followed by Metropolitan Water Reclamation District President Terry O’Brien and, in last place, Clerk of the Court Dorothy Brown.
*** UPDATE 3:42 pm *** Rep. John Fritchey is a ward committeeman, so he’s at the meeting. He just Tweeted this…
There will be no slated candidate for Cook County Board President.
Not a huge surprise, but another major blow to Todd Stroger.
Speaker Madigan, Ald. Burke and Commissioner Daley all voted “Present” on the motion to keep this particular race an open primary, according to a different source at the meeting.
*** UPDATE 2:17 pm *** Sen. Rickey Hendon promised pork for everyone if he was slated for lieutenant governor…
“The job is to legislate and appropriate and if I’m elected your lieutenant governor, I’ll bring back that kind of money to every committeeman in Cook County that I can help,” Hendon said.
[ *** End of Update *** ]
* Sources at the meeting tell me that a subcommittee of the Cook County Democratic Central Committee came just a couple votes shy of recommending that Gov. Pat Quinn be slated by the party against Dan Hynes. Only one motion was made, and that was to endorse Quinn. Dan Hynes had asked that the party slate no one. Another vote will take place this afternoon. Check here for udpates.
Also, the same sources say Rep. David Miller was slated for comptroller over Raja Krishnamoorthi.
And the Sun-Times reports that Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias was slated for US Senate…
Giannoulias and two of the three other Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate asked for the party’s blessing Friday.
Former City of Chicago Inspector General David Hoffman, whose job it was to investigate some of these committeemen’s loyalists on the city payroll, did not attend. He formally announced his candidacy for U.S. Senate Thursday. […]
Attorney Jacob Meister criticized all three of his opponents, saying he has “no history with organized crime” — an apparent reference to loans Giannoulias’ family’s bank made in years past to shady figures; he was not “a figure in Gov. Blagojevich’s cabinet” — Jackson was Rod Blagojevich’s spokeswoman for two years; and he criticized Hoffman for clerking for conservative Republican judges.