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Pat Quinn was a bit of a rabble rouser in politics. He led drives to reduce the number of members of the General Assembly and helped launch the Citizens Utility Board consumer watchdog.
But, 15 years ago yesterday, January 29, 2009, Quinn became Illinois’ most unlikely governor.
He was known as a “gadfly” with lovable catch phrases and Sunday news conferences because reporters had nothing else to cover.
It parlayed into a term as State Treasurer and being elected as Lt. Governor in an odd-couple pairing with back benching, slick-talking Congressman Rod Blagojevich.
Quinn’s falling out with Blagojevich was well documented as early as 2007, but the true saga began the morning of December 9, 2008 when Blagojevich was arrested for attempting to sell an appointment to President-Elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
“I was sleeping soundly in my bed [at 6:45 am] and the cell phone rang. I answered it and on the other end of the line was the Associated Press and the reporter said “the Governor’s been arrested, any comment,” Quinn recalled. “That changed my life, obviously.”
Some seven weeks later, after an impeachment in the House and conviction in the Senate, Blagojevich was removed from office and Quinn, the populist Lieutenant Governor was now Governor of a state with 12 million people.
He took the oath of office following the Senate vote on a cold Thursday evening in Springfield proclaiming to what felt like every TV camera in the world that the “ordeal is over.”
“In terms of preparation, you can do things and research things, but only when it happens you sort of have to rise to the occasion and be ready for everything that comes your way,” he said. “I understood that this was a serious crisis.”
Quinn inherited a $4 billion budget deficit, a national economy in the tank, and a public which had lost confidence in the ethics of its leaders. He also faced scrutiny for raising income taxes just a few weeks after winning a full term in office.
Looking back, Quinn sees how hard of a job he faced.
“You have to be ready for anything to happen at any time,” he said. “Being Governor, you’ve gotta make ten, twelve decisions each day that are important. If you’re not a decision maker, you can’t be Governor.”
He won his 2010 bid by just .9% of the vote and was swept out of office in 2014 by Republican Bruce Rauner, who spent tens of million dollars of his own personal fortune to defeat Quinn.
Asked about the Democrat who beat Rauner, incumbent JB Pritzker, Quinn said the incumbent is doing a “solid” job.
“He was solid during COVID and his positions on most issues, I support,” he said. “I wish there was a little more emphasis on campaign finance and ethics reform in general. That’s an area of Illinois we need a great deal of improvement on. Really, only the governor can make that happen.”
Quinn, now 75, isn’t going away quietly. He’s urging Rep. Maurice West (D-Rockford) to put a referendum on the ballot in November that would allow citizens to directly place constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot.
“I’ve always supported direct democracy, the power of initiative and referendum,” Quinn said. “If we had that in Illinois, we would pass strong ethical standards very quickly.”
We asked Quinn what he believes his legacy in Illinois politics is.
“I think I was a reform governor and a progressive governor and I had to take on some of the hardest things any governor has been challenged by,” he said.
It’s clear, even 15 years after becoming Governor, Quinn will continue to try to “make the will of the people the law of the land.”
