There is water at the bottom of the ocean:
A rural Paris woman who has been an assistant to Gov. Pat Quinn for six years has suddenly resigned from her position as Quinn's deputy chief of staff.
Carolyn Brown Hodge, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, resigned from the governor's staff Friday night upon reports that the state's Office of the Executive Inspector General had confiscated her computer to determine whether she was doing political work on state time.
Remember, Brown Hodge isn't some Blagojevich holdover - she has been with Quinn for years, and was handpicked by Gov. Quinn for this job after he became Governor. Remember this, and Gov. Quinn's loyal defense of Rod Blagojevich for six years as running mate and Lt. Governor, when Quinn is portrayed as some sort of anti-corruption reformer whose ethics cannot be questioned.
That's a shame. I've know Carolyn for decades, and she's a great lady, a lifelong champion for women in government, and IIRC, a former Edgar County Clerk. I sincerely hope for her sake that this turns out to be some sort of minor oversight.
This post is so cute coming from a paid staffer of the guy running for George Ryan's second term.
How's Kjellander? See him around the office much?
Heh. I don't think I've ever met Bob Kjellander, but I have written about him quite a bit, and not favorably.
But I do think your response is indicative of just how little defense there is for Pat Quinn on corruption and ethics.
Well, sure seems to me like she's getting investigated as she should be. What else would you have them do?
I blame Bush.
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Glock21 Op/Ed
"Well, sure seems to me like she's getting investigated as she should be. What else would you have them do?"
Not use government resources to do political work in the first place? Not hire and promote people who do so? This person has worked for Quinn for more than six years, and was finally promoted to be a Deputy Chief of Staff.
Please don't tell me you're going to give Quinn credit for rooting out corruption when it involves busting people at the highest levels of his own administration that he hired and promoted?
Well at least she resigned. We still have a County Clerk who used government resources to do political work.
Well at least she resigned. We still have an Auditor who used government resouirces to do political work.
"Well at least she resigned. We still have a County Clerk who used government resources to do political work."
You trot this out to excuse every Democrat who gets in trouble for this stuff. Another telling indicator of just how indefensible Illinois Democrats have become on the corruption issue.
Tell me IP who is office today can get any credit for rooting out corruption in Illinois government? It will not be any of those politicians who pushed the U of I for admissions or dole out state scholarships like cigars at a birth.
The only credit I see available to Illinois politicians today comes in three forms; 1) not as bad as Blago, 2) not as bad as Ryan or 3) doing nothing about corruption. The latter category being the worst and what we have representing us today. Illinois is in a quagmire of political corruption with no relief in sight.
Someone actually getting in trouble for doing political work on state equipment would be a step forward. I'd suspect that behavior was commonplace under a number of previous administrations (Blago included).
Pardon my stupidity, but if you're the Guv's Chief of Staff, isn't it your job to do political work?
I am still interested is what triggered this action of taking her computer. Also any finger pointing by either party pertaining to fraud and corruption appears to be the "pot calling the kettle black." :-)
Pattsi Petrie
I am still interested is what triggered this action of taking her computer. Also any finger pointing by either party pertaining to fraud and corruption appears to be the "pot calling the kettle black." :-)
Indeed!
For someone who is "Deputy Chief of Staff" how is the line defined between what is legitimate state business and what is "political"?
You trot this out to excuse every Democrat who gets in trouble for this stuff. Another telling indicator of just how indefensible Illinois Democrats have become on the corruption issue.
Oh, definitely. But it is true - Shelden still holds the office and no one in the local GOP pushed for his resignation.
Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot. We're all outraged when it's the other side's turn to be exposed.
Quinn is a fraud. Which bank/brokerage firm is issuing the $3 billion in tax anticipation warrants???? Quinn's the same one who saved thousands in tax dollars in the 1980 cutback amendment that caused the professionalization of greed and non-representation that is the slime known as the Illinois General Assembly.
I am still interested is what triggered this action of taking her computer.
Wonder if she might have done something like sending a political email to a list without realizing that her IP address would be included in the headers? (Just a guess here - no inside information.)
The speculations here are as bizarre as those concerning the recent fatal shooting of a Champaign teenager by the police. Waiting for the results of the investigation seems prudent.
Michael Fuerst
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