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Sitting Governor delivers cash to union strikers...

pragmatic

pragmatic

"Pawn in game of life"
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"Gov. Pat Quinn visited striking Caterpillar workers in Joliet Friday to deliver a $10,000 check from his campaign fund and offer encouragment as the labor dispute enters its fourth month."

Governor visits striking Caterpillar workers - chicagotribune.com


Found the story in this morning's paper a little surprising/disturbing. Apparently this isn't illegal but it does beg the question of where is the line in buying votes. (disclaimer: counter-points to note are that Quinn is not up for re-election and the $10,000 came from his campaign stash, not taxpayer funds.)


Anyone else see it bizarre that a Governor is directly handing out cash to constituents/voters? Would there be any outrage if this were a public union rather than Caterpillar workers? Or if Quinn was in fact up for re-election this November....??
 
This sure seems blatantly illegal to me!

If not, it's corrupt as hell.
 
Pinkie said:
This sure seems blatantly illegal to me!

If not, it's corrupt as hell.
Click to expand...

This is Illinois. Our politicians seem to dance to the beat of that different drum. <smile>
 
given a decent act like that it's only a shame he is not running for re-election
 
justabubba said:
given a decent act like that it's only a shame he is not running for re-election
Click to expand...

Interesting angle. You see any thresholds on politicians handing out cash?

A candidate walking through a poor neighborhood passing $50 bills would have a certain noble element to it. But sort of suspect there will be curmudgeons out there (like me) who are going to view the act cynically. ;)
 
Cole said:
Interesting angle. You see any thresholds on politicians handing out cash?

A candidate walking through a poor neighborhood passing $50 bills would have a certain noble element to it. But sort of suspect there will be curmudgeons out there (like me) who are going to view the act cynically. ;)
Click to expand...

That's not the only problem. What about the people who donated to his campaign fund, only to have their money diverted like this?

If Quinn wanted to donate to a strike fund (and I think it's wrong for a sitting governor no matter what), it should have been from his personal funds.
 
Cole said:
Interesting angle. You see any thresholds on politicians handing out cash?

A candidate walking through a poor neighborhood passing $50 bills would have a certain noble element to it. But sort of suspect there will be curmudgeons out there (like me) who are going to view the act cynically. ;)
Click to expand...

i was not very clear

that he has the compassion to provide funds to the embattled union in his district is what i find election worthy
causing me to wish he were running for re-election

however, if he were running for office and handing out cash to the union or anyone else, that would be wrong
 
justabubba said:
i was not very clear

that he has the compassion to provide funds to the embattled union in his district is what i find election worthy
causing me to wish he were running for re-election

however, if he were running for office and handing out cash to the union or anyone else, that would be wrong
Click to expand...

The "Chicago way" is the soil where Obama and his crew have evolved from. Details may differ but the approach is the same. Have you seen the commercials pushing that food stamps are a good avenue for "watching your weight"? A little sad. A little depressing. Free money, voter for me....
 
Cole said:
.

"Gov. Pat Quinn visited striking Caterpillar workers in Joliet Friday to deliver a $10,000 check from his campaign fund and offer encouragment as the labor dispute enters its fourth month."

Governor visits striking Caterpillar workers - chicagotribune.com


Found the story in this morning's paper a little surprising/disturbing. Apparently this isn't illegal but it does beg the question of where is the line in buying votes. (disclaimer: counter-points to note are that Quinn is not up for re-election and the $10,000 came from his campaign stash, not taxpayer funds.)


Anyone else see it bizarre that a Governor is directly handing out cash to constituents/voters? Would there be any outrage if this were a public union rather than Caterpillar workers? Or if Quinn was in fact up for re-election this November....??
Click to expand...

Why is it legal to use campaign funds in this manner. We are soooo scrood up.
 
MaggieD said:
Why is it legal to use campaign funds in this manner. We are soooo scrood up.
Click to expand...

At least here in Illinois it is the result of one man controlling the legislature for 25+ years. Google Mike Madigan. It genuinely is morbidly fascinating....
 
Cole said:
.

"Gov. Pat Quinn visited striking Caterpillar workers in Joliet Friday to deliver a $10,000 check from his campaign fund and offer encouragment as the labor dispute enters its fourth month."

Governor visits striking Caterpillar workers - chicagotribune.com


Found the story in this morning's paper a little surprising/disturbing. Apparently this isn't illegal but it does beg the question of where is the line in buying votes. (disclaimer: counter-points to note are that Quinn is not up for re-election and the $10,000 came from his campaign stash, not taxpayer funds.)


Anyone else see it bizarre that a Governor is directly handing out cash to constituents/voters? Would there be any outrage if this were a public union rather than Caterpillar workers? Or if Quinn was in fact up for re-election this November....??[/QUOT

Not sure what was done here is legal on a couple of fronts. First, the people that gave these donations gave to a political race not a union, so fraud may be involved. Also those people took a tax deduction for the money donated, so the IRS can go after them. Next, does this seem like the same problem the government tried to prove against John Edwards. In this case there is no issue that the folks donating thought they were giving to a political race, so the money diverted is most probably a crime.
Click to expand...
 
This was an in-your-face gesture to Caterpillar. I can't imagine why he thought that was appropriate....both from the standpoint that it was from his campaign funds (that's not what donors expect to be done with campaign funds), and this:

And last year, Chief Executive Douglas Oberhelman, in pressing Quinn to work on improving the economy, reminded him that the company had out-of-state suitors.
Click to expand...

Caterpiller provides 3,500 jobs at that plant.

The strikers walked out on May 1st after rejecting Caterpillar's move to freeze wages and pensions for six years.

Instead of Quinn donating to the union and slapping an Illinois employer in the face that provides 3,500 great jobs for the state, he should have had a meeting with Caterpillar to see if they could improve their offer. What a turkey. Me? I'da' tried to get Cat to agree to a 3-year freeze and a COLA after that. Just sayin'... (They are a very profitable company.)
 
MaggieD said:
This was an in-your-face gesture to Caterpillar. I can't imagine why he thought that was appropriate....both from the standpoint that it was from his campaign funds (that's not what donors expect to be done with campaign funds), and this:



Caterpiller provides 3,500 jobs at that plant.

The strikers walked out on May 1st after rejecting Caterpillar's move to freeze wages and pensions for six years.

Instead of Quinn donating to the union and slapping an Illinois employer in the face that provides 3,500 great jobs for the state, he should have had a meeting with Caterpillar to see if they could improve their offer. What a turkey. Me? I'da' tried to get Cat to agree to a 3-year freeze and a COLA after that. Just sayin'... (They are a very profitable company.)
Click to expand...

As a sign that the above is a bi-partisan idea, this is what the Cuomo did in NY with Con Ed workers and the company.
 
Cole said:
At least here in Illinois it is the result of one man controlling the legislature for 25+ years. Google Mike Madigan. It genuinely is morbidly fascinating....
Click to expand...


Some additional fun trivia for you non-Illinois folks.

So how could Governor Quinn and Illinois House Leader Mike Madigan (for the last 25 years) and the Democrats pull off these shenanigans for all these years? Wouldn't/shouldn't the Illinois State Attorney General step in and investigate/prosecute this kind of crap???

Well we have a little problem there, too. Our Attorney General is Lisa Madigan. Yep, Lisa's daddy is Mike Madigan. And incidentally, Lisa is presently being groomed to be our next Governor.


Honest to gawd boys and girls, does it get any better than this.....???!!! ;)
 
This obviously doesn't surprise me. These whiny scumbag lazy retard 99%-ers and union members and otherwise people on the lower end of the social Darwinism totem pole do ANYTHING they can to protect themselves and cause our species to revert back to retarded hairy apes.

Social Darwinism is still fighting to make sure that smart large business owners/investors, overcome these ego-centric attempts on the part of said filthy 99%-ers.

99%-ers are the enemy of mankind.
 
This sort of thing happens all the time, benefiting corporations ...
 
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Unions and members have donated many many millions of dollars to Illinois politicians over the years, so what if they give some back in a time of need.

Would you be upset if a politician placed a large sum of cash in a salvation army bucket ?
 
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