But rather than sitting at the governor's desk at the Capitol in
Springfield, Quinn has been busy traveling the state, shaking hands
and publicly announcing the new laws. The constant stream of
appearances comes just a few months before voters decide on their
next governor of Illinois. Polls show that it's still too early to
determine who is the favorite between the Democrat Quinn and state
Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington.
Denny Jacobs, a former state senator, said this time of year is
typically when a governor addresses hundreds of legislative
proposals sent by the General Assembly, after lawmakers adjourn for
the summer.
"It takes a little while to read all the bills and decide which
ones you're going to write. So it's only logical that July and
August and even into September would be that time that you logically
sign these bills anyway," he said.
But Pat Brady, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party and of
no relation to the Bloomington state senator, said Quinn's public
bill signings is flat-out wrong.
According to Brady, Quinn is abusing his power as governor by
using public bill signings as a way to tout his gubernatorial
campaign.
"You understand there's a little bit of overlap, but he's crossed
way over the line in the last couple of weeks with the way he's been
traveling around the state campaigning under the guise of public
safety bills," he said.
On Thursday morning, Quinn appeared on Fox News Chicago to ink
yet another safety proposal into law, this one dealing with traffic
laws.
In the month of July, Quinn has traveled all around the city of
Chicago as well as the Chicagoland area. He's also made stops in
Litchfield and Springfield in central Illinois and Murphysboro and
Cairo in southern Illinois.
Quinn's office reiterated that the governor is serving the state
when he conducts public bill signings.
"As governor, Governor Quinn represents the entire state and
travels throughout Illinois to sign pieces of legislation that will
improve life for the people of Illinois," the governor's office said
in a statement. "During the legislative session, the Illinois
General Assembly passed hundreds of bills, and it is not possible to
hold public events for each and every one. The Governor remains
committed to reviewing each bill he receives and acting in the best
interest of the people."
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This week, Quinn has held two Chicago-area press conferences to
ink two separate proposals dealing with firearms regulation. The
Quinn campaign has criticized Sen. Brady for not being in the Senate
chamber when one of the proposals,
House Bill 5832, came to a vote.
On the other hand, Quinn did not have a public appearance Monday
when he inked into law a proposal originally introduced by Brady.
Brady's proposal,
Senate Bill 3411, is to mandate that the state Department of
Corrections post on its website information on any inmates who were
released from prison early.
The Quinn administration has had to deal with political fallout
when The Associated Press first uncovered that inmates, some of them
imprisoned for violent crimes, were being released under a
"Meritorious Good Time" program well before their prison terms had
expired.
Earlier this year, Quinn tried to distance himself from an inmate
release program, calling it a "mistake."
Jacobs said Quinn is not going to go out of his way to praise
Brady, despite signing his opponent's proposal.
"He's not going to give Bill Brady any advantage on anything. If
Bill Brady has a good bill, which I understand that is a good bill
and the governor even thought of (the bill) as a good bill ... that
doesn't mean he's got to give (Brady) any play on it," he said.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE]
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