Hynes pushes FOIA angle on prisoner-release criticism

State Comptroller Dan Hynes hit Gov. Pat Quinn Monday for a failure to answer Freedom of Information Act requests over the controversial "MGT. Push" prisoner-release program.

Hynes has seized on the issue in his campaign against the incumbent in the Feb. 2 Democratic primary, saying that of 1,700 prisoners released, dozens had violent criminal records. The Associated Press reported that a handful have been arrested again for violent offenses, and Quinn himself has suspended the program, calling it "a mistake."

In a news conference at his Chicago campaign office, Hynes criticized Quinn for not responding to two FOIA requests on the program made by his campaign. The first was made a month ago, the second a week ago, after a new, toughened FOIA went into effect demanding that government agencies answer requests within five business days.

Hynes said the governor was already in violation of the first request, and would be in violation of the second if not answered by the end of the business day. "The governor is thumbing his nose at that law, and on government transparency and public safety," Hynes said.

Quinn said late last week that he had abided by every information request submitted to the state on the matter and even decided to post online the name and prison number of all 1,700-plus inmates released under the program.

Hynes denied his criticism was campaign-driven, saying, "I'm mostly concerned about the fact that we have 1,700 criminals in our communities we don't know anything about." He said he couldn't say whether his TV ad campaign citing the released prisoners was having an effect, insisting, "We haven't done any polling really lately."

The Quinn campaign has already issued a statement decrying the "Willie Horton-style" ads, but now suggests voters seem turned off by that sort of negative campaign. "We have very recent poll results," said Quinn campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Austin. "We have not seen noticeable negative change."

George H.W. Bush effectively used similar ads citing released re-offender Willie Horton against Michael Dukakis in the 1988 U.S. presidential campaign.