CapitolFax.com - Latest Comments in Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Park Shasta — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:57:46 -0000

== He wants to preen, not work, and preening is what senators do while enjoying an even bigger stage close to the White House and all those major playersâ€¦ ==

VM, suggesting Quinn's lazy is foolish. Talk to a reporter who's covered him or a staffer who's worked for him.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Curious — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:17:55 -0000

If Quinn wants to show he has "matured" he will not associate with his colleagues from the Walker era - specifically, John Filan. If Quinn brings Filan back, it will be another 2 years of budgetary flim flam. Lt. Gov. Quinn - your move.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Bookworm — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 19:21:26 -0000

VM and others, if Quinn plans on appointing himself to the Senate seat, why is he already talking about what he's going to do as governor, including reopening the state parks and historic sites and reviewing the Traffic Safety and Pontiac Prison moves.

This makes me suspect that one of the ways Quinn will attempt to burnish his anti-Blago credentials is by going out of his way to be nice to Springfield and downstate.

I predict that when (it's not a matter of "if" any more) Quinn becomes governor, some of the first things he will do that aren't related to the current unpleasantness will be to move into the mansion, visit Pontiac and tour the prison, and tour a reopened state historic site (with cameras present, of course).

If he could get into office before Christmas and reopen either Bishop Hill or the Dana Thomas House (or both) in time to do some holiday tours, he'd have the photo op of a lifetime.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Martin — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:45:36 -0000

Have Quinn appoint Adlai Stevenson. Stevenson is 78 - and would make it clear that he would not run in 2010. Let the campaign for 2010 begin - and save us a lot of money while the campaign spending for the next two years gives the economy a little boost.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

GOPJay — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:40:25 -0000

L.G. Quinn should make the appointment. I know of nothing to date that warrants taking theat authority away from him if he becomes governor.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Impeachment — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:05:30 -0000

Story on Impeaching the Governor in St. Louis and Jay Hoffman
http://www.myfoxstl.com/myf...

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Captain Flume — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:00:21 -0000

There are deals being cut, my friends. I wonder how many of them are being done with a fly on the wall.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Mike B. — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:45:33 -0000

Pick me, Pat! Oh Please Pick ME!

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Captain America — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:40:38 -0000

Quinn's change of heart is related to his desire to reamove a strong potential rival for the Governor's mansion in 2010. It's understandable. Any one of his major potential rivals would probably do a good job as U.S. Senator.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Don't Worry, Be Happy — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:39:23 -0000

Just for the record, I posted on this blog about 10 months ago that Quinn would become governor, cut a deal with the Madigans, and then appoint himself to the Senate elevating Lisa to governor, and the two of them would then support each other for reelection in 2010. As Casey Stengel would say, you can look it up.

But back to reality, the best possible solution for all involved is for Quinn to quickly appoint Valerie Jarrett to the vacancy. End of story.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Capitol View — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:36:16 -0000

I thought Pat Quinn was "Mr. Public Referendum" - let the voters weigh in. How can he oppose a special election here???

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

fedup dem — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:08:29 -0000

Having Quinn appoint a Senator would be the fiscally sounder move to make. A special statewide election would be costly for local election units.

Not that many communities will have primary elections on February 24; most just have a single election scheduled on April 7. Chicago (except for those voters in the 5th Congressional District who have to elect a replacement for Rahm emanuel) have no election scheduled in 2009. with most governmental budgets already straining, letting Pat Quinn appoint a Senator for two years may in the end prove to be the more fiscally prudent course of action to take.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

MikeND05 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:02:35 -0000

If Blago does appoint himself and (assuming it's possible for argument's sake) either Jesse White refuses to certify the appointment or the Senate refuses to seat him, will Blago have already given up his office to Quinn at that point, or would he simply remain governor? In other words, does he legally give up the governorship upon accepting the nomination or upon taking office?

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

True Observer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:47:21 -0000

"Rich â€” the Powell case takes precedence, seeing as how it took place in 1969, when Len Small had been dead for 33 years :)"

Also, the Small appointee probably didn't even litigae it.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Concerned Observer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:43:43 -0000

Rich -- the Powell case takes precedence, seeing as how it took place in 1969, when Len Small had been dead for 33 years :)

You do great work, and this week has been stupendous, so please don't consider me a troublemaker. Just wanted to point it out.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

True Observer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:38:03 -0000

"But I predict today that if Quinn gets it, heâ€™s going to select himself, bail on the problems we face in order to get an inside player in the gubernatorial office, and enjoy DC."

Wont happen.

Rule One - Look out for Number One.

Quinn has better chance of winning gov nomination than Senate nomination.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Rich Miller — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:37:19 -0000

Paul, check your history books. Frank L. Smith was appointed to the US Senate by Illinois Gov. Len Small after he won a GOP primary. The Senate refused to seat him.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Carl Nyberg — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:35:47 -0000

bored, can you explain why the Machine would object to Duckworth? Is it simply that she has too few obligations and ties to the Dem establishment and therefore she wouldn't "understand" the import of not crossing certain interests?

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Carl Nyberg — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:33:29 -0000

During the '96 Dem primary I got the impression Durbin and Quinn didn't like each other.

If the gov appointing Senate vacancies was good enough from 1970 until Dec 8, 2008, why isn't it the right way to go now?

Because Durbin, Madigan and the Dem Party don't want Pat Quinn making the appointment? Why is Quinn's appointment any less legitimate than another Illinois governor's appointment?

Are the Madigans worried Quinn will get too popular? If Quinn appoints someone will that give him a powerful ally?

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

VanillaMan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:32:33 -0000

Quinn knows he doesn't get a clean slate as governor and recognizes the horrific problems if he stayed in Illinois. He wants to preen, not work, and preening is what senators do while enjoying an even bigger stage close to the White House and all those major players...

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Pat Collins — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:31:25 -0000

In fact, Powell specifically discusses not seating a member VS expelling one.

So it seems that Powell does not apply to an expulsion at all.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

bored now — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:28:25 -0000

the first thing i thought of when i saw the special election meme was that the machine didn't want quinn making the appointment. which is strange, because i can't imagine quinn appointing someone who the machine was unhappy with (e.g, duckworth). it's about power, and trying to minimize quinn. show him who's boss...

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:28:02 -0000

Rich, you really need to change this headline...its pretty misleading...

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

wordslinger — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:27:14 -0000

Is Durbin really willing to risk handing the GOP an Illinois Senate seat? Because of antipathy to Quinn? What a statesman.

Quinn wants to be governor, not senator. If he were willing to leave the state, impeachment would be rolling right now.

Re: Quinn now wants appointment power for himself

Concerned Observer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:25:44 -0000

Don't usually post, big-time lurker.

Paul, you're most likely right. They probably can't "refuse to seat" the Illinois representative.

But they can sure as hell vote to expel him/her, probably the same day he/she sits down. So it's a matter of legal-ese and semantics more than anything.

Also, this is the Governor who got a 'C' in constitutional law, right? So maybe he doesn't know this part.