Pat Quinn (politician)

Pat Quinn (2010)

Patrick Joseph "Pat" Quinn III (born December 16, 1948 in Hinsdale , DuPage County , Illinois ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party . He was governor of the state of Illinois from January 29, 2009 to January 12, 2015 .

After serving as State Treasurer , Quinn had been Lieutenant Governor of Illinois under Rod Blagojevich since 2003 . After this was removed from office, Quinn was automatically promoted to governor. He initially ended the current term and was re-elected for a full term in November 2010 with a narrow majority. When he ran again in November 2014, Quinn had to admit defeat to Republican Bruce Rauner , who replaced him in January 2015. In 2018, Quinn ran unsuccessfully for the Illinois Attorney General in the Democratic primary .

education and profession

Quinn grew up in Hinsdale and attended the local Catholic elementary school St. Isaac Jogues there . He then graduated from Fenwick High School in Oak Park in 1967 . Then he went to Georgetown University , where he in 1971 his Bachelor in Economics made. A few years later, in 1980, he received his Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University School of Law . He was also a tax attorney before embarking on a public career.

Political rise

Since 1975, Quinn has organized several petitions related to consumer protection laws, tax reform, and strengthening civil rights. In 1983 he led the campaign to create the Citizens Utility Board . In 2001, he wandered through Illinois, from the Mississippi River to Lake Michigan , to raise awareness that everyone needs decent health care.

Quinn was elected Commissioner of the Cook County Board of Property Tax Appeals in 1982 and later served as the Revenue Director of the City of Chicago . Then he was from 1991 to 1995 as the successor to Jerome Cosentino State Treasurer of Illinois. In that capacity, he cut the budget each year, bringing taxpayers $ 848 million in investment income. As early as 1986 Quinn tried in vain for this office.

In November 2002, Quinn was alongside Rod Blagojevich for lieutenant governor elected by Illinois and confirmed together with Blagojevich in office on November 7 of 2006. During his tenure as the Governor's deputy, his priorities were protecting taxpayers and consumers, protecting the environment, promoting proper health care, and helping members of the armed forces and their families.

Illinois Governor (2009-2015)

Assumption of office

Pat Quinn speaking at the Green Expo in Illinois in April 2009

On January 29, 2009, Governor Blagojevich was removed from office by a unanimous vote of the State Senate . The reason were alleged corruption offenses ; Among other things, he is said to have tried to “sell” the vacant seat of the new US President Barack Obama in the US Senate in exchange for financial support. Shortly after these allegations became known in December 2008, Quinn had already distanced himself from Blagojevich in an interview and stated that he had not even spoken to Blagojevich since August 2007. The governor also announced that Quinn was not part of his government. Immediately following Blagojevich's impeachment, Pat Quinn was sworn in as the 41st governor of Illinois in the House of Representatives Chamber . According to the state constitution, he was due to end his current term, which was only halfway through.

2010 gubernatorial election

The next gubernatorial election was scheduled for November 2010. Quinn, who sought confirmation in office, first had to win the party's internal primaries . He received unusually strong competition for an incumbent governor in the person of State Treasurer Dan Hynes . The Primary in February 2010 won Quinn then against Hynes with a hachdünnen lead of less than one percentage point (50.46 against 49.54 percent). So he was nominated as a candidate for the Democratic Party.

In the gubernatorial election on November 2, 2010 , Quinn also won with a narrow majority. He prevailed against the Republican State Senator Bill Brady and won 46.8 percent of the vote, while 45.9 percent of the voters voted for his Republican challenger. The lead over Brady was only around 31,000 votes out of over 3.7 million votes cast. What was remarkable about this result was that Quinn was only able to win a majority in four of the 102 counties of Illinois : In addition to St. Clair County , Jackson County and Alexander County , he succeeded in doing this in Cook County , which has around 43 percent of the population of Illinois and the Chicago area counts. Here he laid the foundation for his victory with a share of the vote of 64.3 percent. With his triumph, Quinn caused a political surprise, as in all elections in 2010 the mood in the USA was very much in favor of the Republican Party. Plus, recent pre-election polls consistently saw Brady ahead of the incumbent.

In January 2011, he began a full four-year term as governor. His running mate in the 2010 gubernatorial election was Sheila Simon , who took over the vice-governorship that had been vacant since Quinn's promotion to governor.

Administration

Governor Quinn at the publicity signing of a law in June 2012, with Michelle Obama in the background

Governor Quinn Addresses Students at College of DuPage (May 2014)

As a consequence of the scandal surrounding former Governor Rod Blagohevich, a referendum on a constitutional amendment was held in Illinois in the 2010 election. The majority of voters voted in favor of Quinn's actively supported proposal to allow a recall against the state governor . This makes Illinois one of the 18 US states in which it is possible to remove the head of government before the end of the term of office by means of a referendum (with high hurdles). After the constitutional amendment, 500,000 signatures are required to bring about a possible vote on whether a governor will remain in office. Otherwise, the governor can only be removed from office by the legislature, as in Blagojevich's case. A vote of no confidence by Parliament for purely political reasons is not planned.

Quinn is considered progressive on social issues . On March 9, 2011, Governor Quinn signed a law abolishing the death penalty in Illinois, which went into effect July 1, 2011. On 20 November 2013 he signed a law to legal recognition of same-sex marriage . This means that same-sex marriages can now be concluded in Illinois. In October 2013, he also signed a bill that expanded the healthcare reform initiated by President Obama . With the concept promoted by Quinn, Medicare in particular is to be made accessible to more people.

During his tenure, the minimum wage in Illinois was raised twice against opposition from the Republican opposition . Since then, this has been $ 8.25 an hour. In the course of the elections in 2014, the governor initiated a referendum to raise the statutory minimum wage again.

After he took office, Quinn was confronted with a large deficit in the state budget . The economy in Illinois also had to struggle with the financial crisis that began in 2007 . In the fall of 2011, Quinn pushed through a temporary increase in income tax through the state legislature , in which the Democrats have a majority of the seats . With this step the deficit in the state budget should be limited. The additional income made it possible to reduce the deficit in 2012, but the state of Illinois still spent 8.3 billion US dollars more than it received in this fiscal year. It was later decided to raise the corporate tax. At his State of the State Address , however, Governor Quinn called for tax breaks for companies that offer professional training and development. By the 2014–15 fiscal year, the tax hikes and an improving economic situation made it possible to reduce the deficit to 3 billion dollars. In the state apparatus, Governor Quinn's government also made various cuts in order to save more money. After losing re-election in 2014, he spoke out in favor of implementing the tax increases made in 2011 on a permanent basis until the end of his term in office. This did not materialize, however, as members of his party also rejected this.

Another focus of Quinn's government policy is environmental protection . Even before he took office as governor, he was in favor of better protection of nature and the environment. During his tenure as lieutenant governor, Quinn instigated a memorial day to protect rivers in Illinois. As governor, Quinn is strongly promoting the expansion of renewable energies in his state, for which he has already introduced several laws. In addition to the expansion of renewable energies , Quinn signed a law in the summer of 2009 that requires buildings financed by the state of Illinois to meet special standards for high environmental sustainability and low energy consumption. The Sierra Club , a well-known American environmental protection organization , supported Quinn's election campaigns and referred to him as a Green Governor ("green governor").

2014 gubernatorial election

Pat Quinn announced in spring 2013 that he would run for another full term as governor of the state of Illinois in the 2014 gubernatorial election . With William M. Daley , there was initially a serious opponent within the Democratic Party, but Daley withdrew his application in autumn 2013. The internal party primaries the Democrats won Quinn clearly on 18 March 2014, about 71 percent of the vote. In the run-up to the election, Vice Governor Simon decided not to run for her post again because she wanted to apply for the office of State Comptroller , but this failed in November. Quinn therefore selected Paul Vallas , who previously held the office of director of the Chicago Public Schools, as his fellow candidate .

In the gubernatorial election on November 4, 2014, Quinn was defeated by his Republican challenger Bruce Rauner . This won with a share of the vote of 50.3 percent, while only 46.3 percent of the electorate voted for the incumbent. The outcome of the election was previously viewed as completely open after Quinn managed to catch up with some of the significant deficits in the polls during the last two months of the election campaign. Political observers also attributed Rauner's election success to a strong mobilization of the Republican regular voters. In addition, the challenger had succeeded in addressing large numbers of swing voters in Illinois, which was largely inclined towards the Democrats , by taking very moderate positions in socio-political areas compared to other party comrades. Last but not least, Quinn's popularity ratings in Illinois had been at a low level for a long time. In particular, the tax increases undertaken under him were extremely unpopular; Especially since Quinn in 2014, contrary to earlier statements, advocated keeping these tax increases permanently in order to be able to reorganize the budget.

Quinn was the only Democratic governor not re-elected in the 2014 election . Of the 36 states that held gubernatorial elections, he was one of only three incumbents to be voted out (the other two were Republicans Sean Parnell of Alaska and Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania ).

His term as governor ended on January 12, 2015 with Rauner's swearing-in. Quinn did not take part in this. One of his last official acts was to veto a law that would have allowed the hunting of lynxes .

After the governorship

Before the end of his term in office, Quinn declared that he would continue to campaign for consumer protection.

Immediately after his defeat in 2014, he announced that he would not seek political office until further notice. In November 2015 it was announced that Quinn apparently does not rule out a renewed candidacy for governorship in 2018, which could have led to a renewed encounter with Bruce Rauner. In the fall of 2017, however, Quinn announced his candidacy for the office of Attorney General of Illinois. A little earlier, the long-time incumbent Lisa Madigan said she did not want to run again. The post of Attorney General, which corresponds to a General Prosecutor and partly to a Minister of Justice , is filled by direct election by the population. In his election campaign, Quinn campaigns for consumer protection and a strengthening of the right to vote. In addition, Quinn would like to counter the policies of US President Donald Trump with legal remedies. The Democratic primary on March 20, 2018, however, went just to Quinn's disadvantage. In a field of eight candidates, he received 27% of the votes, while the State Senator Kwame Raoul took first place with 30%.

Private life

Quinn is divorced and has two grown sons. He lives in Galewood, a suburb of Chicago .

Web links

Commons : Pat Quinn  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Personal election campaign website of Pat Quinn (English)
• Pat Quinn in the National Governors Association (English)
• Pat Quinn in the nndb (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fenwick High School. " Pat Quinn 1967 ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2012 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. " 
2. ↑ 'Meet the Press'
3. ↑ Summary of the results of the 2010 gubernatorial election In: New York Times.
4. ^ Illinois Governor Recall Amendment Passes With Two-Thirds Of Vote. In: The Huffington Post.
5. ↑ Illinois abolishes Death Penalty, Clears Death Row. NPR , March 9, 2011, accessed March 9, 2011 . 
6. ↑ Death penalty abolished in Illinois In: 20 minutes . July 2, 2011.
7. ^ Quinn signs Illinois gay marriage bill. In: Chicago Tribune.
8. ↑ Gov. Quinn Celebrates Launch of Obamacare in Illinois ( Memento of the original from November 7, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. DNA-Info, October 1, 2013. 
9. ↑ Illinois budget deficit to hit $ 8 billion despite tax increase. In: Chicago Tribune.
10. ↑ Governor Pat Quinn to deliver 2015 budget address. In: ABC News.
11. ↑ Natascha Korecki: Gov.-elect Rauner's message to Quinn, Legislature: Whoa! (No longer available online.) In: Sun Times. November 6, 2014, archived from the original on November 7, 2014 ; accessed on November 7, 2014 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ↑ Environment defenders: It's Our River day ( Memento of the original from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
13. ^ Illinois.gov: Governor Pat Quinn signs green bills into law at 2009 Sustainable University Symposium
14. ↑ Sierra Club commercial: The green Governor
15. ↑ Which Governors Are Most Vulnerable in 2014?
16. ↑ Election 2014 In: New York Times.
17. ↑ Real Clear Politics: Illinois Governor: Pat Quinn vs. Bruce Rauner
18. ↑ Rich Miller: How Bruce Rauner won the race for Illinois Governor and Pat Quinn lost. In: ChicagoBusiness. November 7, 2014, accessed November 8, 2014 . 
19. ↑ Quinn vetoes bill did would've opened bobcats to hunting. In: Chicago Tribune. January 11, 2015
20. ↑ Quinn says goodbye to aides, mansion and life of a governor. In: SunTimes. January 12, 2015
21. ↑ Pat Quinn May Be Eyeing Another Run For Governor , WSIU-News, November 5, 2015 (English)
22. ↑ Ex-Gov. Pat Quinn to run for state attorney general , Chicago Sun Times, October 28, 2017