How long will it be before the people of Illinois finally wake up to the fact that “Mr. Clean” Pat Quinn is just another in a long line of corrupt Illinois governors?

Quinn has portrayed himself throughout his career as a reformer, a clean politician without scandals. But his rise through the Chicago Democrat Machine has more dirty deals than Quinn’s sycophants in the liberal media would let you know.

Quinn lied about his support for the death penalty and he lied about the extent of his tax hikes. That can be forgiven by the media, which supports Quinn’s views on those topics. And lying as a means to justify their noble ends never has been a problem for them.

But the scandal with Quinn and Careen Gordon has both Republicans and Democrats, and some journalists, uneasy with Gov. Clean.

And even convicted felon Rod Blagojevich thinks the Quinn-Gordon deal was unethical. Apparently, the impeached former governor believes the deal with Gordon was too much for his own standards.

In last fall’s election, State Rep. Careen Gordon (a Democrat representing Morris, Coal City and part of the notoriously corrupt Kankakee County), campaigned on the pledge to vote against Quinn’s proposed tax hike. She was defeated. In the lame duck session after the election, Gordon changed her mind and voted to increase the income tax by 67 per cent. It passed by one vote. Two days later, Quinn appointed the now-unemployed Gordon to an $85,000 position on the Prisoner Review Board.

Quinn said he did not buy Gordon’s vote with the promise of the lucrative job. Both have said there is no proof of this.

But is there ever proof of dirty backroom deals? Illinois sends politicians to prison by the busload, but that is only a small percentage of those get caught.
Republicans said they would fight Gordon’s appointment. Some Democrats also did not like the smell of this deal. So on March 16, the day before confirmation hearings were to begin, Gordon met with Quinn and the nomination was withdrawn.

Rod Blagojevich — someone who knows about crooked deals — said the deal with Quinn for Gordon’s vote was the very sort of thing for which he was indicted.

Blagojevich ran for governor on the promise that he would reform and clean up the office that George Ryan had disgraced. Remember that?

Blagojevich followed Ryan, as governor, and perhaps he will follow Ryan to prison. Quinn is following in the path of governors Joel Matteson, Len Small, Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich as just another corrupt Illinois governor.

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Jim Ridings is author of Len Small: Governors and Gangsters, and Chicago To Springfield: Crime and Politics in the 1920s, available on Amazon.com