Raoul: POTUS Supports Illinois Death Penalty Bill

By Prescott Carlson in News on Mar 5, 2011 5:00PM

If the double hearsay of state Sen. Kwame Raoul is correct, President Barack Obama supports Illinois' effort to abolish the death penalty.

According to the Sun-Times, Raoul met with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn on Friday, who told him, "Barack had complimented [Quinn] and the state on our work on civil unions and the death penalty." Quinn had met with Obama during a visit to Washington, D.C., for National Governors Association meetings.

Quinn reportedly got together with Raoul and Rep. Karen Yarbrough, who sponsored the bill along with Raoul, to discuss the death penalty legislation which Quinn has yet to sign.

The measure to abolish the death penalty in Illinois passed the state Senate by a vote of 32-25 and was sent to Quinn's desk weeks ago on January 11. Quinn has since hemmed and hawed on signing the bill, despite campaigning on supporting the continuation of former-Gov. Ryan's death penalty moratorium enacted a decade ago.

ABC-7 says Quinn is "close to a decision" on the bill, which he has until March 18 to either sign or veto. If Quinn punts and does nothing, the bill will automatically become law. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan seems to support a veto, saying "the dealth penalty is an appropriate and just punishment [in some circumstances]."

But Raoul remains positive, and was quoted as saying, "I feel fairly confident that he's going to sign it. My feeling on that has not changed on the basis of our meeting today."