Quinn Defends Pay Raises

While service providers across the state are still reeling from the $1.4 billion cut out of the state budget, an Associated Press report found that Governor Quinn’s office doled out 43 salary increases to staffers over the past 15 months. Some of the largest raises were more than 20 percent and the average salary increase comes out to be 11.4%.

Quinn’s office defended the raises, with a spokesperson saying they were “based on re-evaluated work output, additional duties and overall performance” and that half were because of promotions or changes in workload. The Governor went on to say that spending in his office is lower than in previous years and that his budget is 25 percent less than that of Blagojevich. Bill Brady, who took plenty of heat for his minimum wage proposal, seized the opportunity to criticize Quinn. A statement from the Brady campaign said “While working families are tightening their belts and doing more with less, Pat Quinn is doling out massive pay raises to his own staff — and we're paying for them.”

With private businesses and non-profit organizations trimming spending any way they can, state unemployment still in the double digits and a loss of unemployment benefits for millions, the idea of a public servant getting a raise feels like a slap in the face to those struggling. State Senator Matt Murphy (R-Palatine) perhaps put it best, saying, “People are hurting out there, and this is the kind of thing that infuriates them. Not so much for the dollar amount, but for the example.”