Sparring continues at governor's race debate
The governor's race got pricklier Thursday as Gov. Pat Quinn accused his Democratic primary opponent of creating racial divisions and Republican Jim Ryan called on one of his opponents to withdraw.
Quinn and his Feb. 2 opponent Dan Hynes continued to spar over a campaign ad Hynes ran that featured video of late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington discussing why he removed Quinn as the city's revenue director more than 20 years ago.
Quinn has taken great offense to the ad because he was a longtime Washington supporter and Hynes' father, Chicago politician Tom Hynes, left the Democratic Party to try to unseat Washington.
"I'd rather lose the race for governor than divide the people of Illinois along the lines of race. That's what my opponent is doing," Quinn said during a debate on WVON-AM, a black radio station.
Quinn maintains he resigned from Washington's administration because others wanted him to engage in unethical behavior.
Hynes, the Illinois comptroller, defended his ad as a testament to Quinn's job performance then and since taking over last year when Gov. Rod Blagojevich was removed from office by lawmakers. The state is in a financial crisis and the deficit likely will reach $13 billion this year.
"We're not trying to be divisive," said Hynes, who stressed he was 18 when his father ran against Washington.
Quinn was on friendly territory at the station with talk show host Cliff Kelley, who later gave out information about how people could volunteer for Quinn's campaign.
Quinn repeatedly listed the many black politicians who back him, including Congressman Danny Davis and state Sen. James Meeks. Hynes tried to zing Quinn about it.
"Is anybody ... keeping track of how many names the governor drops? It's breaking a record," Hynes said.
The Democratic race has grown testier as the primary approaches. Polls show Quinn's big lead over Hynes has vanished.
The squabbling also continued on the Republican side Thursday with Ryan calling on Andy McKenna to withdraw from the GOP race unless he answers questions about improper behavior when he ran the state party.
The Ryan camp called on the Illinois Republican Party to release all documents related to its investigation of McKenna, who included his name in a poll to gauge voter interest.
A party investigation found McKenna acted improperly by including his name in the party-funded poll when he was state GOP chairman. He has since apologized.
"If he's willing to deceive members of his own party and was willing to put ... his own self-interest ahead of the party's interest, is it much of a stretch that he's going to put his personal interest before the public interest? I don't think so," Ryan said.
Current state party chairman Pat Brady declined Thursday to release further information about the investigation.
The McKenna campaign issued a statement about Ryan's comments, but it didn't come from McKenna.
McKenna was defended by Ty Fahner, a former member of the state party executive and ethics committees. He said McKenna addressed the matter in a joint statement released earlier this month with the state party.
Fahner said McKenna had led the party "with the utmost loyalty and integrity." He criticized Ryan for trying to impugn McKenna's character with "untrue personal attacks."