Quinn, Trib Call Bull On McKenna

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 26, 2009 3:00PM

It seems that the Andy McKenna campaign has riled both the Gov. Quinn campaign as well as the Chicago Tribune after using an alleged quote from a Tribune article that both the Trib and the Quinn says the McKenna folks made up. The ad continues to attempt to tie Quinn to our most recent corrupt ex-gov, Rod Blagojevich.

First, of all, the original McKenna ad in question [via Chicago Current].

So what did the McKenna campaign fudge? That "Quinn Hides The Truth" line. Earlier this week, Clout Street reported:

On the date cited in the McKenna TV ad, the Tribune reported in its Clout Street blog about a debate held at the Union League Club of Chicago between Quinn and one of his Democratic rivals, Comptroller Dan Hynes. The McKenna campaign contends that its use of the term “Quinn hides truth” is a summary of the report, even though those words never appeared.

McKenna’s campaign said it cited the Tribune article because it reported comments made by Quinn at the Democratic debate that the campaign said show “by any sane, rational definition, that (Quinn) is hiding the truth.” The campaign did not respond to questions of whether it was misattributing the accusation to the newspaper and said it stood by its commercial.

Clout Street also reported that a similar radio ad appeared using the "Quinn hides the truth" phrase but didn't attribute it to the Trib. It's not the only video kerfuffle that Quinn's dealt with this campaign season; last week, Quinn's primary opponent Dan Hynes leaked a video that Hynes' team alleged showed Quinn dozing off during an emotional presentation by a woman in support of health care. Quinn's campaign denied the allegations.