-By Warner Todd Huston
Sometimes words come back to haunt you, ya know? Ask Illinois Governor Pat Quinn who has just said something that is as bad as when a husband tells his wife she really does look fat in that dress. It’s something that just can’t be forgotten.
Last week Governor Pat “I’m For the Little Guy” Quinn took some guff for his pay-to-play union payoff when he signed an amendatory veto that benefited the Teamsters Union. As soon as Quinn issued the veto that would help the Teamsters his opponents highlighted the fact that Gov. Quinn only last month received $750,000 in political contributions from the union.
Quinn scoffed at the idea that he was handing his union pals a big payoff.
“Everything I’ve done in my whole life is based on what I do according to conscience,” Quinn told reporters. “I always do the right thing, no matter what.”
Well, I’m reassured… aren’t you?
We should be especially reassured that Quinn isn’t just doling out to us a load of hash and calling it a steak dinner because he said the same thing about his former boss, Rod Blagojevich, the ex-governor currently under indictment for attempting to sell a U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder.
John Ruberry over at Marathon Pundit alerted me to this wonderful quote from Quinn when he was standing as Blago’s second man.
“He’s always been a person who’s honest and one of integrity…I have confidence the governor does the right thing all the time.” (Chicago Daily Herald, October 20, 2006)
Should we look askance at Quinn for saying that he, himself “always does the right thing” when he said the same about one of the most crooked politicians that Illinois currently has?
Fortunately, the Illinois General Assembly overturned Quinn’s pay-to-play scheme meant to benefit Big Labor.
Ruberry makes another good point at his post on this little incident. By it we see Quinn as the tool of the Teamsters in Illinois. But, as John points out, Quinn has gotten just as much from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). So, plainly Quinn is an all around union stooge in the Governor’s mansion.
Then again, I guess it depends on what the meaning of “the right thing” is. From Big Labor’s greedy position, Quinn is certainly doing right by them. Too bad he’s not doing right by the rest of us.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 200 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDailyReview.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
Huston has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events and is currently the co-host of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Conservatism” heard on BlogTalkRadio. Huston’s work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Neil Bortz, and Michael Savage. He has appeared on the G. Gordon Liddy show, dozens of local shows from coast to coast, and many blogtalk radio shows.
Mr. Huston has appeared on local TV news to discuss his writing, has been a guest of CNN’s blogger lunch, and has appeared on Breitbart TV’s B-Team show.
Warner is also the editor of the Cook County Page for RedCounty.com and has a blog on the Tribune-Owned http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/publius-forum/ChicagoNow.com website. He is a well known writer on Illinois politics.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston
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