Jan 5, 2009 7:43 pm US/Central
Lt. Gov. Quinn To Burris: You Made A Big Mistake
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn answered reporters' questions after a speech to the City Club of Chicago Jan. 5, 2009.
CBS
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn revealed Monday the very frank conversation he had with Roland Burris, Gov. Rod Blagojevich's Senate appointee.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports Quinn told Burris by telephone last Friday it was a big mistake to take the appointment.
Quinn added that he warned Burris that the vast majority of Illinois voters strongly disagree with the way Burris is trying to take the Senate seat, not least because it ignored the advice of President-elect Barack Obama.
"Many, many people in Illinois today feel that the government is corrupt," Quinn said.
Acting more like a governor than the lieutenant governor he still is, Quinn Monday made his highest-profile appointment ever. He asked the prosecutor who helped put former Gov. George Ryan in prison to study corruption in Illinois.
Former Asst. U.S. Atty. Patrick Collins agreed to, without spending one penny of tax dollars, recommend reforms to deter the plundering politicians who've made Illinois an international laughingstock.
"There's a culture of corruption issue that will not be cured by prosecutions, that will not be cured by reform commissions," Collins said. "It does require a whole change of attitude."
"They're laughing at the Illinois government, and it isn't operating for the common good or the public interest," Quinn said. "We must change that."
After speaking to a City Club of Chicago luncheon, Quinn responded to reporters. They asked what Quinn told Roland Burris about accepting the U.S. Senate appointment.
"The acts of the governor and Mr. Burris accepting the appointment do not meet with the approval of the people of Illinois," Quinn said. "Barack Obama asked the governor not to make the appointment. He asked that no one accept it, and he wasn't heeded. And I think all of us would do well to pay attention to his words."
Quinn has been busy while so much attention has been focused on the circus surrounding Gov. Blagojevich's possible impeachment and the Burris Senate appointment. Quinn is trying to get a handle on the financial emergency developing in the state treasury – a shortfall of $5 billion or more.
Quinn signaled one other change could be in the works if he becomes governor: he says he would live in the governor's mansion in Springfield, unlike Blagojevich.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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