Results tagged “governorquinn”

The campaign for the Democratic nomination for Governor is getting dirtier by the day as the Hynes campaign leaked a video showing Quinn falling asleep during a particularly "heart wrenching speech" about health care. We've all been there, we've all dozed off during a staff meeting or on a conference call. But we've been lucky enough to not have our campaign rival videotaping us before taking 40 winks. [via NBC 5]

Lawmakers return to the Illinois Capitol today for the fall veto session. The session, slated to last three days this week and three next, will focus on money for cash strapped college students and stronger ethics laws.

• Mayor Daley and Governor Quinn are defending the $16 million price tag on the state's tourism spending. If gubernatorial opponent Dan Hynes thinks that's steep now, wait til October 3rd when we might add roughly $4 billion to that.
• Officials downstate are investigating a brutal quintuple homicide in which a couple and three of their children were shot dead in Beason; a 3-year-old girl survived the shooting, but police haven't released any additional details on her condition.
• Investigators have ruled that the fire-related deaths of a couple in their Des Plaines-area home was a murder-suicide.

180 National Guard troops got a warm welcome home today from friends, family, and Governor Pat Quinn. The ceremony was held today at Soldier Field; it's the first trip home in almost a year for the soldiers from the 178th Infantry. The troops were among those that Gov. Quinn visited during his surprise trip to the Middle East a few weeks ago.

Governor Quinn paid a visit to Illinois troops overseas in Iraq and is still over there on a tour of goodwill, showing support for the soldiers far from home. Quinn spoke with CBS 2 and told them, "This is an arduous, difficult, hard assignment, and they've carried it out with great distinction...(We have) 3,200 men and women from our Illinois National Guard are over in Afghanistan. It's the largest deployment since World War II. But here in Iraq, we have hundreds of Guard members." Quinn took the surprise trip with a group of other state governors, departing Friday; the plans for the rest of his trip and his return have not been released.

After a lot of hootin' and hollerin', it's finally done: we have a state budget. And one without an income tax hike. But with the state facing somewhere in the neighborhood of a $9 billion budget gap, how will the state actually manage to make ends meet? In a word: borrowing. The $26 billion spending plan depends on borrowing $3.5 billion to pay state worker pensions and around $3.2 billion in bills is pushed off to next year's budget, but the move means that most of the state services that were on the brink of getting cut will now remain. For now, anyway, as Gov. Quinn has the option to cut any additional money as he sees fit. Still, Quinn said the budget still puts the state between $4 billion and $5 billion down.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

• Six more confirmed cases of Swine Flu have the grand total in the state of Illinois up to *drumroll* .... Nine.
• Meanwhile, Governor Quinn echoed the sentiment of common sense in saying that riding public transit did not pose any additional health risks.
• Chicago Public Schools and the teachers' union are squaring off over potential changes to the retirement plan.

Poor Governor Quinn. He just wants to be liked and Mayor Daley keeps toying with his emotions. First, Daley got pissy over Gov. Quinn's budget. Then, MayDay said some very nice things about the Governor. But now Daley is back to questioning The Mighty Quinn's tax plan. According to David Stewart at WGN Radio, Daley said, "Just to say, ok my answer is to increase taxes, and I'm not going to look at, review my departments, which I think its very challenging and I think that they have to rethink that." We patiently await Daley's next statement on the issue, probably sometime next week, when he is expected to say, "Nah, I was just fuckin' with ya', Patty. Just bustin' the new guy's balls. Of course you can tax the shit outta everyone! It's Cook County!"

It appears Governor Quinn has delayed distribution almost $900 million intended for transit improvements in the Chicago area, part of a state mini-capital bill, incurring the wrath of state legislators. State Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago), chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said the news came from Jack Lavin, Quinn's COO, and budget head Ginger Ostro. Sandoval claims CTA, PACE, and Metra were all told to halt planning on the current projects and to not spend any money. Said Sandoval, "We had a major signing ceremony for the mini-capital bill a few weeks ago with the governor -- and now he's doing a head fake. This tells me Gov. Quinn still has his running mate's playbook that he has dusted off the shelf." Meanwhile, Quinn's staff is saying the projects will be paid for. Quinn Spokeswoman Katie Ridgway told the Tribune, "there is nothing on hold, and it's the governor's intention that transit projects will get started this construction season." The Trib has more details on the specific transit projects affected. [Tribune]

While former governor Rod Blagojevich was paying Karl a visit, Gov. Quinn was preparing to counter Blago's attacks on him. Sure enough, Quinn appeared on WGN 720 AM with John Williams, calling Blago, "yesterday's tomatoes." SNAP! Quinn also admitted he listened to Blago's appearance for about half-an-hour and took questions from listeners. You can listen to Quinn being interviewed here: Part 1 (MP3) and Part 2 (MP3).

The Trib has updated its story that Gov. Quinn plans to raise the state income tax with a confirmation from the governor himself. Check out our first post on the topic here and check out the Trib's update below.

Yes, even in Illinois - state motto: "We tax the shit out of everything" - there's always room to raise taxes. This morning, the Tribune is reporting that Governor Quinn is considering a plan that would raise Illinois' state income tax by half, from 3 percent to 4.5 percent. According to the Trib's source, such a hike would also include a hike in the corporate income tax on businesses, but would be softened by raising the standard $2,000 tax exemption to $6,000. If implemented, it would be the first income tax hike for Illinois in 20 years; the rate was raised from 2.5 percent to 3 percent in 1989. Critics suggest Quinn will have to tread carefully lest he severely damage his chances in 2010. Quinn is due to present his budget plan to the state legislature next Wednesday.

Last week, after days of calling for the resignation of U.S. Senator Roland Burris, Governor Pat Quinn tucked tail and back-pedaled after the first sign of political pressure. Now it seems the chances of Burris being removed or resigning are somewhere between slim and none as a state Senate subcommittee yesterday voted down an attempt to remove Burris from office and set up a special election to replace him. The vote came out 3-2 along party lines with the three Dems arguing the cost of a special election would be too costly. Meanwhile, Burris isn't exactly out of the woods. While we already know he intends to run in 2010 to retain his spot, it seems as if he'll be going up against a formidable opponent, at least in name: Bill Daley, brother of Mayor Daley. Daley joins state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias as people who are taking aim on the seat.

In an about-face from his recent calls for Senator Burris to resign and for a special election to be held to fill the U.S. Senate seat, Governor Quinn today backed off of Burris and said the focus of Illinois should instead be on things like the economy. Said Quinn:

Facing a state budget deficit estimated at up to $9 billion, lawmakers say a state income tax increase is fast becoming one of their best debt-reducing options. Gov. Quinn has not said definitively if he will introduce an income tax hike, but one House Democrat told the Tribune the governor is considering raising the flat tax on all individuals’ gross personal incomes from 3 percent to 4 percent. A related hike in the corporate income tax -- which is also currently fixed at 3 percent -- could jump to as much as 4.8 percent, the source said. Both the corporate and personal income tax rate has not changed since being set in 1989.