Staff says governor 'doing his job' through appearances
SPRINGFIELD - As the Feb. 2 primary nears, Gov. Pat Quinn is embracing the power of incumbency, cutting a swath of ribbons and announcing millions worth of construction projects all in the name of the office he ascended to a year ago.
So far this week, he's opened a children's center and announced $10.3 million for Northern Illinois University building renovations, including more than $8 million for Cole Hall where the 2008 student shootings took place.
The governor, in the heat of a primary race, also recently announced state funding for Loop road improvements, remodeling a veterans' home and a grant for a Chicago-based charter school to purchase an additional building.
Quinn's Democratic rival Comptroller Dan Hynes was asked whether the governor was abusing his taxpayer-supported office with the multitude of announcements timed so close to an election.
"I wouldn't say it's an abuse. It's an illusion. He's cutting ribbons for buildings that don't exist," Hynes said.
Political observers have noted that the governor's numerous public appearances on official time, instead of campaign time, are just another perk of that position. In recent weeks, there have been days in which Quinn's campaign schedule has gone empty while his government schedule is filled with funding announcements.
In responding to Daily Herald questions about such scheduling, the governor's media office said Quinn is following up on the $31 billion state construction program he touted in his State of the State speech earlier this month.
That building program is financed with the state's added take from higher license plate fees, increased alcohol taxes and potential taxes on legalized video gambling.
The availability of the governor and local officials who want to attend the events help determine when they take place, an office spokeswoman said in an e-mail.
Quinn campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Austin said the governor has been doing these kinds of official events for months and didn't see it as unusual.
"I wouldn't call it a coincidence," Austin said. "I would call it doing his job."
Northern Illinois University spokesman Joe King said the Cole Hall announcement shouldn't have come any later, considering the university would like to start construction later this summer and renovating Stevens Hall has been a priority of the university for almost 20 years.
Such funding announcements are a perk the office, but largely ceremonial. The funding for such projects does not hinge on a public appearance by the governor, or any other state official.
Quinn has held numerous such events that could offer him a boost in the coming days, including the announcement that 1,200 new jobs would be coming to the Ford assembly plant in Chicago - a development he'd previously touted in a televised debate with Hynes. Quinn credited the new jobs to a tax credit he signed into law in December, but he had nothing to do with the timing of Ford's announcement.
Quinn has another full schedule today as governor. He's set to announce federal high-speed rail funding at stops in Chicago, Alton and Bloomington. Of note, he has no such appearance scheduled in Springfield where the potential routing of high-speed rail lines has created local controversy and threatened litigation.