Governor Pat Quinn is a decent guy. He is an Oak Park Democrat with, for my tastes anyway, a much too close working relationship with Boiled Beet Progressives.
Governor Quinn just had his butt handed to him by the tax payers of Illinois, through their elected Representatives in Springfield.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-legislature01jun01,0,2960790.story
Programs ( code for tax dollars to Progressive groups, lawyers and individuals wasted) have sucked the life out of Illinois. The well is bone dry.
For the last few months, Illinois Teachers Unions have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on sophomoric and childishly whiny radio ads about saving 'good teachers' because pensions are 'the fair share.' Nope. Pensions are a benny.
Great teachers continue to teach in Catholic Schools, Independent Schools, Christian Schools, Muslim Schools, Jewish Schools and Charter Schools. SEIU and the Chicago Teachers Unions want to kill Charters. Every time public school test score drill deeper into the Illinois soil, a march is televised to ask why the children in Illinois Schools are not filling up on State funded energy drinks, snacks or pills.
District School Superintendents with just the right 'credentials' to get them safely out of the classrooms that they could never control continue to make salaries that European Monarchs would envy. Then, they get caught on camera diddling the help as well as the tax-payers.
It's Children First! . . .and then the looting frenzy!
Illinois needs a good governor. Governor Quinn is a good man, but he has played ball with the Program Gluttons. It is time Illinois put the old feather down the throat and tickled up the tummies of the Progressives.
The Illinois GOP has shot its toes off backing Topinka and the Milkman and others.
It is time to get smart with a smart guy. Ron Gidwitz is just that man.
Here's what the Tribune ( believe it or not) said about Ron Gidwitz in 2006, when Illinois allowed Blago another kick at the Program Cat.
Ron Gidwitz is the Republican best equipped to earn that trust, and to empty that dark, fetid moat. The Tribune endorses Gidwitz in the Republican primary for governor and his running mate, state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, for lieutenant governor.
This primary is about plans and positions, but it’s also about nominating a candidate who will break eggs and make omelets.
That’s Gidwitz. As CEO of Helene Curtis, he built a cosmetics business into an empire. As chairman of the State Board of Education, he ordered bureaucrats to visit Illinois classrooms to see how state policies affected schoolchildren. As chairman of the City Colleges of Chicago, he demanded that students’ curriculum meet the needs of the modern workplace. His mantra to board members (after he scuttled their pricey limo service): Look, folks, this is the last degree many of our students will ever earn. We need to make sure they’re employable.
Gidwitz will choose his advisers wisely, as a chief executive must. The evidence: His decision to team with Rauschenberger, one of the most independent, creative members of the legislature.
Gidwitz’s detractors say he’s abrasive. Yes, he’s all-business. He doesn’t suffer fools. Yes, he’s been a political insider, a contributor to politicos in both parties. But the GOP hierarchy isn’t backing him in this race, all the more reason to believe him when he says he’ll commandeer the bully pulpit, murmur “Brace yourselves,” and roust clubby lobbyists, lawyers and legislators from the rotunda and into the sunlight.
I usually vote Democrat. However, I am sticking very close to home with my Democratic Votes - Ed Maloney and Kevin Joyce will always have my vote. They vote the will of my neighbors.
I have met Mr. Gidwitz on a couple of occasions. Mr. Gidwitz is courtly and soft-spoken. I do not believe that he would toss a handful of Jacksons on the bar at Keegan's Pub and yuck it up with the lads. Hell, neither do Joyce or Maloney. Kevin Joyce has seven kids and Ed Maloney has his First Communion money. However, Mr. Gidwitz is a serious business gent. He does not suffer fools gladly. Hence, the abrasive canard that gets tossed his way. Ron Gidwitz don't polka.
Judy Topinka polkas . . .when it suits her.
Nope, Ron Gidwitz might have the personality of a dial tone, but the man can manage.
Illinois needs a Chief Executive. He'd work great with Speaker Mike Madigan. Imagine the giggles and gab when these two serious gents got together!
Ron Gidwitz is just what Illinois needs. Pat Quinn is a nice guy - there's millions of them.
