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Gallery - Quinn Plastic Surgery Center - John Michael Quinn, M.D., F.A.C.S quinnplasticsurgery.com |
For other persons named Pat Quinn, see Pat Quinn (disambiguation).
Patrick Joseph Quinn III (born December 16, 1948) is the 41st Governor of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party. Quinn became governor of the state of Illinois on January 29, 2009, when the previous governor, Rod Blagojevich, was impeached and removed from office.
[edit] Education and personal lifeBorn in 1948 in Hinsdale, Illinois, Quinn attended the local Catholic grade school, St. Isaac Jogues. He graduated in 1967 from Fenwick High School, a Catholic school in Oak Park, Illinois run by the Dominican Order of Priests[1]. While a student at Fenwick, Quinn was the cross-country team captain and the sports editor of the school newspaper. Quinn went on to graduate Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown University in 1971 with a bachelor's degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. After taking a few years off from education, he received a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1980.[2] Quinn is divorced and has two sons, Patrick IV and David, born on April 12, 1983, and December 16, 1984, respectively. Both sons, like their father, competed in scholastic sports, specializing in track and field events.[3] Quinn was briefly a practicing tax attorney before his career in public office. [edit] Political career[edit] Political activismBefore running for public office, Quinn was already involved in political action, serving as an aide to Governor Dan Walker.[1] He was first put on the political map in the late 1970s by leading a petition to amend the 1970 Illinois Constitution with the "Illinois Initiative". This amendment was intended to increase the power of public referendums in the political process and recalls for public officials.[1] The petition drive was successful, but the Illinois Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the Illinois Initiative was an "unconstitutional constitutional amendment," and thus never was presented to voters.[3] Quinn drew more attention to his causes by holding press conferences on Sundays, seen as a slow news day.[1] While still in law school, Quinn scored his first political success in 1980, earning him the reputation as a reformer on the Illinois political scene. Through his organization named "The Coalition for Political Honesty" he initiated and led the statewide campaign for the Cutback Amendment to the Illinois Constitution, ultimately reducing the size of the Illinois House of Representatives from 177 to 118 members.[3][4] This also earned him some enemies among the state's establishment, since they had fewer seats and possibly less power.[1] In 1982, Quinn was elected as commissioner of the Cook County Board of Tax Appeals, now known as the Board of Review.[1] During this time, Quinn was instrumental in the creation of the Citizens Utility Board, a consumer watchdog organization. He did not seek re-election in 1986, but waged an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for Illinois State Treasurer, which was won by Jerome Cosentino. After this defeat, Quinn briefly served in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington as Revenue Director.[5][6] Quinn's bid for office was successful in the 1990 election. He was elected Illinois State Treasurer and he served in that position from 1991 to 1995. During this period, he was publicly critical of Illinois Secretary of State and future governor George Ryan. Specifically, he drew attention to special vanity license plates that Ryan's office provided for clout-heavy motorists. This rivalry led Quinn to challenge Republican George Ryan in the 1994 general election for Secretary of State, unsuccessfully.[5] Quinn then took his aspirations to the national stage. When United States Senator Paul Simon chose not to seek re-election in 1996, Quinn entered the race. Dick Durbin won the Democratic primary and eventually the Senate seat.[7] Quinn sought the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor in 1998, but was narrowly defeated by Mary Lou Kearns. Quinn did not initially accept the count and charged fraud, but several weeks after the election he declined to ask the Illinois Supreme Court for a recount and endorsed Kearns. Quinn once protested an increase in legislators' salaries by urging citizens to send tea bags to their offices, inspired by the Boston Tea Party.[1] [edit] Lieutenant GovernorQuinn won the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in March 2002 and subsequently won the general election on the Democratic ticket alongside gubernatorial nominee Rod Blagojevich. In Illinois, candidates for lieutenant governor and governor run in separate primary elections, but are conjoined as a single ticket for the general election.[1] This same ticket won re-election in 2006, where Quinn was unopposed in the primary.[3] While lieutenant governor, according to his official biography, his priorities were consumer advocacy, environmental protection, health care, broadband deployment, and veterans' affairs.[8] On December 14, 2008, when David Gregory asked Quinn on NBC's Meet The Press about his relationship with Blagojevich, he said, "Well, he's a bit isolated. I tried to talk to the governor, but the last time I spoke to him was in August of 2007. I think one of the problems is the governor did sort of seal himself off from all the statewide officials... Attorney General Madigan and myself and many others..."[9] Quinn has consistently stressed that his relationship with Blagojevich has been estranged at best, often pointing out that Blagojevich officially announced that Quinn was not part of his administration in 2006.[10] [edit] Governor of IllinoisOn January 29, 2009 Rod Blagojevich was removed from office by a vote of 59-0 by the Illinois State Senate.[11] Quinn was sworn in as Governor of Illinois, after earlier signing a written oath, at the chambers of the Illinois State House of Representatives by Illinois Supreme Court Associate Justice Anne M. Burke at 5:40 p.m. Central Standard Time.[12] Unlike Blagojevich, who preferred to execute his gubernatorial duties from the governor's office in Chicago's Thompson Center and continue to live in his Ravenswood, Chicago, home while commuting via state plane to Springfield, Quinn will move into the Illinois Executive Mansion in Springfield, saying it would be an honor to live "in the people's house" [13]. [edit] EconomyQuinn has announced several "belt-tightening" programs to help curb the economic ailments of Illinois. He has also had meetings with other statewide officers of Illinois, in stark contrast to Rod Blagojevich's seclusion from others. In July 2009, Quinn signed a $29 billion capital bill to provide construction and repair funds for Illinois roads, mass transit, schools, and other public works projects. The capital bill, known as Illinois Jobs Now!, was the first since Governor George H. Ryan's Illinois FIRST plan, which was enacted in the late-1990s. [14] On July 7, 2009, he for the second time in a week vetoed a budget bill, calling it "out of balance", his plan being to more significantly fix the budget gap in Illinois.[15] [edit] Ethics reformOn February 20, 2009, Quinn called for the resignation of US Senator Roland Burris, the man appointed to the United States Senate by Blagojevich to fill the vacant seat created by the resignation of Barack Obama. He changed his position, however, following pressure from prominent African Americans who threatened electoral repercussions.[16] On March 3, 2009, the Associated Press reported that Quinn had "paid his own expenses" many times as Lieutenant Governor, contradicting Blagojevich's accusations against Quinn.[17][18] As a rule, he either paid his own way, or stayed at "cut rate hotels" (such as Super 8), and never charged the state for his meals.[18][19] In June, Quinn launched a panel, chaired by Abner Mikva, to investigate unethical practices at the University of Illinois amid fears that the prior investigation would have no clout. The panel is charged with searching the admissions practices, amid reports that the public university is a victim of Illinois corruption.[20] [edit] 2010 ElectionQuinn will run for a full term for Governor in 2010. He will be opposed in the primary by state comptroller Daniel Hynes. Lisa Madigan had thought of entering the race, but decided against it. Most attention will likely be paid to the state's senate election to the seat previously held by Barack Obama. [edit] Electoral history
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Categories: Governors of Illinois | Lieutenant Governors of Illinois | Illinois lawyers | Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni | Northwestern University School of Law alumni | Irish-American politicians | American Roman Catholics | 1948 births | Living people | State treasurers of Illinois | Illinois Democrats | Politicians from Cook County, Illinois | People from Hinsdale, Illinois | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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