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Labor Day represents the unofficial start to the November elections and Bill Brady is receiving a very nice send-off gift: an endorsement from the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police.
At a press conference Tuesday morning, FOP officials said they're backing the GOP nominee for governor because, even though Democratic nominee Pat Quinn is arguably better on pensions, Mr. Brady is closer to them on core issues.
"There's fundamental agreement on Brady's message that the state has to cut and cut more" to balance its books, said Dan Nelson, executive director of the 35,000-member law-enforcement union.
Even though Mr. Brady has talked about abolishing all public-sector pensions and requiring workers to plan for their own retirement through a 401(k)-style system, "The guy really understands" the need to end deficit spending, Mr. Nelson added.
FOP leaders also were struck when Mr. Brady appeared before the group and delivered "a very strong law enforcement message of protecting officers."
FOP endorsed former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, in each of the past two elections, Mr. Nelson said. That makes Tuesday's announcement a bit of an embarrassment for Mr. Quinn — even if most police are a bit on the conservative side.
Beyond that, the union tends to be highly visible on the campaign trail, and, while its wallet is on the small side, its members tend to be active in doing precinct work.
I'll let you know if Team Quinn responds.
Mr. Nelson did say one other thing of interest when we talked: Negotiations continue in Springfield about cutting back on retirement benefits for police. He suggested the union may have room to move if, in exchange for concessions, governments (like Illinois) that often fail to make their required pension contributions are forced to do so.
By Rick Pearson, Chicago Tribune reporter
Voters don't know much about Republican governor candidate Bill Brady, but they prefer him by a slim margin over Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat they dislike, a new Tribune/WGN-TV poll shows.
Half of those surveyed disapprove of the sitting governor's job performance in the 19 months since he replaced the scandal-ridden Rod Blagojevich. Only 26 percent have a favorable impression of Quinn. And 70 percent of those surveyed don't like how Quinn has fared on his hallmark issue of reforming government.
By contrast, four in 10 voters hold no opinion of Brady, a veteran lawmaker from downstate Bloomington. And just 19 percent have an unfavorable view of him.
If anything, the poll results indicate why Quinn's new round of Chicago television ads attacking his major rival use the tagline "Who is this guy?"
Brady collected 37 percent to Quinn's 32 percent support, while another 19 percent were undecided in the poll of 600 likely registered voters conducted Aug. 28 through Wednesday. Former Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen, who's now running as an independent for the top post, had 4 percent, and Green Party candidate Rich Whitney and Libertarian Party contender Lex Green each had 2 percent. The survey's error margin was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
The poll shows Quinn still has time to try to define Brady in voters' minds if he can muster enough money. But the governor also faces the challenge of reversing widespread voter unhappiness with his job performance.
Only 28 percent of those surveyed say they like what Quinn has done since he took over following the impeachment and removal of Blagojevich after his December 2008 arrest on federal corruption charges. That's down 11 percentage points from a year ago. More than half of voters who call themselves independents and one-third of voters who say they're Democrats dislike what Quinn has done as governor.
One major problem for Quinn is his support among African-American voters, a key Democratic constituency. Though the governor held a 54 percent to 10 percent advantage over Brady among black voters surveyed, nearly a quarter were undecided. And just as many African-Americans liked Quinn's job performance as disliked it: 38 percent.
Quinn has been a fixture on the Illinois political stage for three decades, viewed by the establishment as an outsider gadfly most of that time. Among those surveyed, 42 percent have an unfavorable view of Quinn and 30 percent expressed no opinion. Brady was viewed favorably by 28 percent of the state's voters; 40 percent still haven't formed an opinion.
Despite Brady's social conservatism in an Illinois GOP long split along ideological lines, the poll found Republicans much more unified behind their nominee's candidacy than Democrats are behind Quinn. Brady had the backing of three out of four Republicans, while Quinn had just 56 percent support among Democratic voters.
Though Quinn may be the recipient of what has revealed itself nationally as overall unhappiness toward politicians, some of his efforts in office have not been received warmly by voters.
Only about a third of voters support Quinn's call for an income tax increase to help offset the state's massive $13 billion deficit. Brady's plan for unspecified budget cuts and opposition to higher taxes was backed by 46 percent, even though the state's shortfall is equal to about half of Illinois' annual operating budget, and independent analysts question whether cuts alone will solve the problem.
More telling, barely half of Democrats say they support Quinn's call for higher taxes, while a quarter of them side with Republican Brady, who has said he won't detail his proposed budget cuts until after the Nov. 2 election.
At the same time, more voters back Brady's call for more widespread business tax cuts to spur job creation than get behind Quinn's reliance on passage of the state's first public works construction program in more than a decade.
But a telling sign for Quinn may be voter reaction to one of his most recurring themes — that he worked to restore trust in state government following the Blagojevich scandal. Under Quinn, lawmakers enacted the first-ever campaign-donation limits, though some criticized them for having loopholes. The General Assembly also agreed to put on the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment allowing a limited form of recall of a governor.
Yet 70 percent of the state's voters said they don't believe Quinn has done enough to curb corruption in Illinois government, including nearly six of 10 Democratic voters and about three-quarters of those who classify themselves as independents.
The results of the survey coincide with the kickoff of Illinois' fall general election campaign, a season politically charged with ethical scandal and economic malaise following heavily contested February primaries that left both nominees bruised.
Quinn narrowly survived a Democratic challenge from Comptroller Dan Hynes, who criticized the governor for a controversial cost-cutting prisoner early release program. Quinn said he was unaware of the program and canceled it, but kept his prisons director on the job until he resigned last week.
The governor also dumped a Blagojevich-appointed inspector general just as the watchdog recommended discipline against Quinn's chief of staff for improperly sending three campaign e-mails from a state account. Quinn denied the inspector general's dismissal was retribution.
But it has been Quinn's inability to stabilize the state's financial situation — allowing a Democratic-controlled legislature to largely dictate the terms under which Illinois government is running a $13 billion debt with $5 billion in unpaid bills — that has raised questions about his leadership.
Since taking office, Quinn backed several failed plans to raise the state income tax, with varying amounts of tax relief for lower-income workers. Quinn still maintains an income tax is needed and said he will push for one after the election.
Brady had been considered a long shot to win the Republican nomination, but he defeated his Senate colleague, Kirk Dillard, of Hinsdale, by 193 votes. Still, Brady was the first choice of only about 20 percent of GOP primary voters in a crowded field.
Despite Quinn's gaffes, Brady's general election campaign has hardly been smooth. Shortly after the election, he sponsored hot-button legislation to ban same-sex marriages and civil unions and allow the mass euthanasia of companion animals. He later handed those off to another Republican senator.
Brady has used his campaign to focus on his fiscal conservatism rather than his social conservatism in promoting a theme of private-sector job creation to help rescue the state's economy, believing pocketbook issues are the top concern of the state's voters.
The millionaire real estate developer also has faced criticism over his votes in the legislature to help spur development near property he owned in central Illinois and for using tax laws to legally avoid paying federal income taxes the past two years.
Copyright © 2010, Chicago Tribune
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Pat Quinn's approval rating is 23% and when it comes to the Illinois Governor's race that's about all you need to know. Despite being largely unknown and not particularly well liked Bill Brady leads with 39% to 30% for Quinn and 11% for Green Party candidate Rich Whitney, continuing his path toward becoming one of the most unlikely big state Governors in recent history.
Brady is winning 80% of Republicans while only 60% of Democrats are committed to Quinn. Perhaps most remarkable is the numbers among independents- Brady leads with 40% with Whitney second at 19% and Quinn finishing all the way back in third at 15%.
There's certainly still room for Quinn to come back but it's going to depend on whether people vote based on their feelings about the candidates themselves or just choose on party. Among the undecideds 50% are Democrats to only 16% who are Republicans and 67% of them voted for Barack Obama to just 21% who voted for John McCain. Usually you would expect that Democratic leaning crop of undecideds to come home and tighten the race...except that they give Quinn only an 8% approval rating with 49% of them disapproving of him. Getting the votes of Democrats who dislike him is the only way Quinn can pull it out but right now those folks aren't sure what they're going to do.
53% of voters disapprove of Quinn. He has only a 40% approval rating even with voters of his own party and Republicans (7/81) and independents (17/60) are pretty universal in their dislike of him. Brady isn't exactly setting the world on fire either. The largest group of voters, at 45%, have no opinion about him. Among those who do it's a slightly negative one with 25% seeing him favorably and 30% unfavorably. But at the end of the day the main thing Brady has going for him is that he's not Pat Quinn and that's good enough to give him a solid lead less than three months out from the election.
Republican governor candidate Bill Brady today called on Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn to fire the state's prisons chief following an early release plan that a panel ripped for saving money at the expense of public safety.
"I believe the highest obligation of any governor is to protect the interests of the public, the public safety. By allowing these releases to occur, Gov. Quinn failed to meet this obligation," Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, said at a downtown Chicago news conference.
In Springfield, Quinn responded that he would not fire corrections chief Michael Randle, saying "I don't need a lecture from Sen. Brady."
Quinn defended Randle, calling him a nationally known expert on prison matters.
"I'm not going to change the director," Quinn said during an interview today at the Executive Mansion. "He did make a mistake. He took responsibility for it."
Brady's call for Randle's ouster came after Quinn released a report Friday that reviewed the circumstances surrounding the controversial program known as Meritorious Good Time Push.
Under it, the state let out 1,745 inmates out of prison an average of 36 days early as a cost-savings move. Some of those released committed new crimes
The report from former judge David Erickson concluded that the program was a "mistake" and "ill-conceived."
Quinn has said he was unaware that the program was being implemented by Randle and ordered it stopped in December after he found out. But Brady today maintained that the report showed "knowledge of this program was widespread among senior officials" and called it "one of the greatest lapses in public safety in recent history."
"How is it possible that Corrections Director Michael Randle still has a job?" the Republican asked. "If the governor doesn't remove Director Randle, that will be one of the first resignations I will accept on my first day in office."
On Friday, Quinn acknowledged for the first time that he did consider firing Randle. Today, the governor again said that he has established a director of public safety and a liaison between the prison agency and the governor's office.
Brady has come under fire for failing to detail how he would implement budget cuts to the state's deficit-plagued budget in lieu of the income-tax hike Quinn supports. Asked how he would achieve cost savings at the Illinois Department of Corrections, Brady said he would seek a detailed audit of the agency, cut down on mid-level bureaucracy in favor of front line prison guards and eliminate cable television in prisons.
Erickson's report, politically embarrassing to the election-seeking governor, was released on a Friday afternoon -- a time traditionally reserved by politicians to deliver bad news. In a bit of a role reversal, Brady sought to publicly exploit the report by using a longtime Quinn tactic -- a Sunday news conference scheduled when news tends to be scarce.
Seeking to underscore his law-and-order bonafides, Quinn contended his support for a ban on assault weapons is a stark contrast to Brady's opposition to it.
A ban has long been backed by Mayor Richard Daley, but legislation has repeatedly stalled in a General Assembly sharply by regional and philosophical differences between the gun rights of hunters and the desires of Chicago-area politicians who want to ban assault-styled weapons.
"I believe in banning assault weapons," Quinn said. "Sen. Brady is the poster boy for the assault weapons makers."
-- Rick Pearson and Ray Long
By Doug Wilson
Herald-Whig Senior Writer
Bill Brady, the Republican nominee for Illinois governor, prefers to see challenges as opportunities.
By that measure, he said Illinois has "the greatest opportunity of any state in the nation."
With more than $70 billion in unfunded pension obligations, another $20 billion in bonded debt and about $5 billion in unpaid bills, Brady said it is no wonder Illinois has the worst bond rating in the nation.
The first step in recovering fiscal health is to "stop the bleeding."
"We can't afford to let Illinois keep spending beyond its means," Brady said during a campaign stop Monday in Quincy.
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