Here’s how weird Illinois politics has become: In the Democratic primary campaign against Gov. Jell-O, the tough guy is turning out to be Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes.
Amazing, eh?
Gov. Pat Quinn proved it by quivering last week in vetoing the “landmark” reform legislation he once championed. He also backed down in the fall-guy sweepstakes over that University of Illinois admissions scandal.
Watching Quinn was like watching that lime Jell-O in a small bowl in your fridge, jiggling wistfully when you open the door, and you realize no one in your family would find it the least bit appetizing.
“Of the last three governors of Illinois, two have been corrupt and one is inept,” said Hynes. “I find that offensive. I think that with all the corruption the people of this state have endured, they want change and they want competence. Hopefully, the change voters see from me involves competence and effectiveness.”
Hynes talked over breakfast the other day, in a diner just a block from his campaign office. I’ve taken many shots at him over the years, mostly about his being just another favored princeling of the Democratic machine, and I asked if he’d like to talk some politics.
Hynes didn’t bring handlers. There were no aides trying to shape the discussion. He came alone.
“I’m in this because I like government, because I want to make an impact,” Hynes said. “This is it.”
Quinn and others running for governor and senator are welcome to have breakfast with me any time and give me their take. Summer’s over. It’s time to get back to work.
Quinn and Hynes are the only two declared major candidates in their party’s February primary. The winner faces the victor from the other corporate wing of the Illinois Democratic Party, known to many as the Illinois Republican Party. Some guys might desire a weakened Quinn be taken out by state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Hinsdale Republican and former protege of Combine master Big Jim Thompson.
They might even put the band back together. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
Quinn, also a nice fellow who portrays himself as a reformer, sold out his own reform legislation in a political deal. He negotiated a provision with the legislature that would have prevented the state Democrats from endorsing a gubernatorial candidate. In exchange, he let the legislators gut the work of his blue-ribbon reform commission.
“That was his ‘landmark’ legislation which he testified for,” Hynes said, “and that was the product of a deal he cut to try to eliminate the party’s endorsement of [state Atty. Gen.] Lisa Madigan. That’s basically what he did. Then it turns out that Lisa doesn’t run for governor, so he didn’t need the ‘landmark’ legislation anymore.”
Last week, Quinn also backed down from his vow to fire the last two U. of I. trustee holdouts who refused to resign in the wake of the admissions scandal. The two are African-Americans, and Quinn will need black votes in February.
Quinn said he was just being prudent. But if it looks like Jell-O, and quivers like Jell-O, it just might be Jell-O.
Hynes’ father, Tom, was the party’s Cook County assessor. Dan Hynes is the comptroller. Both jobs are low-profile, high-impact posts that give the officeholder an incredible insight to the levers of power and of interests in play. This also fits with Hynes’ theme of the competent technocrat versus the gadfly.
“It involves how the wheels work, how the sausage is made,” Hynes said of the comptroller’s office. “I think there is some of that. I mean, all contracts go through my office, all transactions, all the agencies’ payroll, and so, over 11 years, I have basic knowledge of how government runs.”
Hynes admits that in his failed Democratic campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2004, he was too cautious. That campaign put unaccomplished legislative back-bencher Barack Obama in the express lane to the White House.
“A lot of what I was saying and doing was forced in the Senate race, because it just wasn’t coming from my heart,” Hynes said. “I was running for the wrong reasons. I’d just been re-elected [as comptroller] and there was this open Senate seat and I was like, ‘Here’s a great opportunity’ as opposed to really feeling passionate for what I wanted to do as senator.”
Soon, Hynes will come out with a series of proposed taxes to close the $12 billion state budget deficit, including higher taxes on casinos, on cigarettes, stadium skyboxes, country clubs, and yacht club services.
Yet what will help Hynes the most is if Quinn keeps insisting on playing the role of inept governor by happenstance.
“And if I lose? I’ve got three beautiful kids and a beautiful wife, and I’ll go practice law,” Hynes said. “That’s not a bad alternative. And if I win, I’m going to have the same attitude. If I get bounced out of there after four years, I go back to a great family and different career goals. I just don’t want to be the guy who’s 68 years old, saying, ‘I think I’ve got one more run left in me.’ I just want to make my mark and move on.”
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jskass@tribune.com
