Gov. Pat Quinn voiced his support for gay marriage in Illinois, a minimum wage hike and tougher gun laws during his State of the State speech Wednesday afternoon, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The Associated Press has posted the full text from Quinn's State of the State speech. Here are some of the highlights:
Quinn also spent much of his speech touting his accomplishments during his term as governor, such as cuts to Medicaid and ethics laws that have been passed, according to Crain's Chicago.
Quinn has said he will run for re-election in 2014. If he does, he is expected to have an opponent in the March 2014 Democratic primary.
Quinn has gotten low approval ratings in recent months. A Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling survey released at the end of November found Quinn to be the least popular governor in the United States with an approval rating of 25 percent.
Tell Us: What are the top issues affecting Illinois today? What would you like to see fixed in the coming year? Do you think Quinn chose the right priorities to highlight during his State of the State speech? Do you think he should be re-elected in 2014?
Vortex
9:10 am on Thursday, February 7, 2013
TERM LIMITS.
Enough said.
Earl Weiss
10:13 am on Thursday, February 7, 2013
>>>•Quinn said he would like to see the minimum wage rate increase from $8.25 to $10 an hour in the next four years, <<<
Yep the politicians are certainly expert enough to tell private business how to run their operations since we all know how well the state runs it's business.
Disgruntled
5:06 pm on Thursday, February 7, 2013
We already have Term Limits - 2 terms only
One in Office, One in the Federal Lockup.
What we need is a governor who has a higher IQ than his shoe size.
Quinn is a Space Cadet, not a Rocket Scientist.
Jac Charlier
8:34 pm on Thursday, February 7, 2013
The #1 issue in IL is the ongoing erosion of trust between citizens and politicians. The drum beat goes on of investigations, arrests, indictments and convictions (Even with no conviction it still erodes the trust but to be fair is not the same as being found/pleading guilty). Public corruption is one of the main reasons for this situation including generations of one family in office and taking govt jobs/pensions/goodies. The other is the massive failure to be good financial stewards of public dollars and allowing $9 Billion in backlog of bills owed to IL businesses and $100 Billion in underfunded pension payments. All of this happened with the full knowledge of our State Representatives and Senators..
smallbizman
8:29 am on Friday, February 8, 2013
There is no trust for politicians,Because you give them an inch they take a mile everytime.Raise taxes great answer.Didn't we already do that?(67%).Maybe we should pay politicians 10.00 an hour.We couldn't do any worse.10.00 an hour = less jobs.These politicians have no clue.There just going thru the motions and lining there pockets on our lazyness.Vote them out,It's the only way to send the right message.Start with cullerton,madigan and quinn.
Jac Charlier
9:45 am on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Agreed about no trust...we are on the same page on that one. As for pay, State Representative and State Senators get a full time salary (starting at $69K and going up) + benefits + pension for what is legally classified as a part-time job. Worse, some hold down another government job (pay, benefits and pension) while in the State Legislature. Very sad.
Harry Gio
8:55 am on Saturday, February 9, 2013
There will ALWAYS be corruption in Illinois, especially in Cook County; commonly known amongst its residents as CROOK county.
Jac Charlier
9:47 am on Saturday, February 9, 2013
Not always Harry Gio...when voters decide otherwise, it can begin to change. We need choice in our elections, preferably with at least 2 other credible choices than the incumbent.