 Brady, the Republican challenger and state senator from Bloomington,
met Quinn at Chicago's Union League Club for a Wednesday morning
debate. But the two covered very little new ground and at times
sounded as if they were just reciting the same old campaign speeches
voters have been hearing since the February primaries.The
audience asked questions ranging from how Quinn and Brady would
fully fund public schools and the state's pensions to their plans
for Asian carp. But the two candidates spent most of their time
talking about the main issues of the campaign and the debate: jobs
and each other.
Quinn found the message that critics say has been lacking for
most of the campaign and pointed to numbers that show Illinois is
starting to crawl back from the recession.
"Our state has grown jobs this year, more than any other state in
the Midwest. We've had eight straight months of consistently
declining unemployment. ... We've put together 'Put Illinois to
Work,' the most successful program of its kind. Since early May
we've gotten 25,990 people jobs."
Brady, though, said "Put Illinois to Work" is little more than
using money Illinois doesn't have to put people to work in jobs that
the government shouldn't be creating. The GOP candidate said
Illinois needs to let businesses create jobs.
"We have a problem in Illinois. In the last decade we've lost the
opportunity to create nearly 800,000 jobs. In the last 15 months of
the Quinn administration we've net lost over 200,000 jobs, and in
the last two months we've net lost over 26,000 jobs. That's not a
national problem. Over 35 states have created more jobs with fewer
assets and opportunities than Illinois," Brady said.
Brady placed blame for those lost jobs, and Illinois' sluggish
recovery from the recession, at the feet of Quinn and other
Democrats at the Statehouse. He once again dusted off his campaign
pitch that smaller government, fewer taxes and a more
business-friendly state is the solution to Illinois' unemployment.
"We need to define what we're going to look like, not just next
year but in the next 20 years. ... Businesses walk out of Illinois
and turn to other states because of the fiscal crisis they see in
this state. We have to have the fiscal discipline to live within our
means," said Brady.
[to top of second column] |
Quinn also reached into his bag of past stump speeches to shoot
down Brady's claim that Democrats are driving jobs out of the state.
"I think you'd better tell that to Ford. ... They decided to stay
in Illinois and grow in Illinois. They didn't go to another state.
They created 1,200 new manufacturing jobs right now, and that will
magnify into 12,000 supply, contracting, and distributing and
servicing jobs," the governor said.
None of the claims, or counterclaims, about jobs and unemployment
are new for Brady and Quinn. Most of the debate sounded rehashed,
and neither candidate offered any details as to how they'd create
jobs, pay for schools or deal with Illinois' massive $13 billion
deficit.
The only off-script moments came when Quinn and Brady jabbed at
each other. Brady tried to sting the governor for the no-layoff
agreement with AFSCME that came very close to the massive union's
election endorsement, saying the deal is "wrong and you know it."
But it was Quinn who had the most stinging words, saying
repeatedly that Brady and his plans for the state are little more
than a fantasy.
"We've got to have people with common sense, not with nonsense.
This is a pretend world that you're hearing of from Senator Brady. A
world that doesn't exist."
Wednesday's debate in Chicago is the first between the two
candidates, but as fitting with the campaign, they blame each other
for the short list of future debates. Voters will have their final
say on Nov. 2.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BENJAMIN YOUNT]
 |
