Pat Quinn (politician)

Patrick Joseph Quinn (born December 16, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as a political activist, founding the Coalition for Political Honesty, which organized citizen-initiated referendums advocating political reform. He later served as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Tax Appeals from 1982 to 1986, Illinois Treasurer from 1991 to 1995, and the 45th lieutenant governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Quinn is a graduate of Georgetown University and Northwestern University School of Law. He began his political career working as a campaign organizer and then aide to Illinois Governor Dan Walker before launching a series of citizen-led petition drives, including the 1976 Political Honesty Initiative and the 1980 Cutback Amendment, which reduced the size of the Illinois House of Representatives from 177 to 118. The amendment marked the first and only time Illinois voters used the initiative process to enact a constitutional amendment or law.

After the passage of the Cutback Amendment, Quinn continued to organize petition drives and was elected as a Commissioner on the Cook County Board of Appeals in 1982; he later served as revenue director in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. He was elected Treasurer of Illinois in 1990 and subsequently ran unsuccessful campaigns for secretary of state in 1994, United States senator in 1996, and Lieutenant Governor in 1998.

In 2002, Quinn won the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois and was elected alongside gubernatorial candidate Rod Blagojevich in the general election. Both Quinn and Blagojevich were reelected in 2006. Quinn assumed the governorship on January 29, 2009, after Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office on corruption charges.

Quinn won a full term in the 2010 gubernatorial election, winning by a margin of less than 1% against Republican state senator Bill Brady in an upset. While in office, Quinn worked to provide voters the power to recall the governor, passed a $31 billion capital construction plan, passed ethics reforms, legalized civil unions and same-sex marriage, expanded state coverage under the Affordable Care Act, instituted the Put Illinois to Work program, initiated the Illinois Secure Choice retirement savings program, and abolished the death penalty. He lost re-election in 2014 to the Republican nominee, Bruce Rauner. He later ran an unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for attorney general of Illinois in 2018.

Early life and education

Quinn was born December 16, 1948, in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, the son of Patrick Joseph "P. J." Quinn and the former Eileen Prindiville. P. J. Quinn and his wife Eileen both grew up in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago.

Quinn's father enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the outbreak of World War II, serving in the Pacific Theater aboard several ships including the USS Bon Homme Richard. He served for three years, one month, and 15 days. In a commendation letter from his commanding officer, Quinn was described as "one of the finest men with whom I have ever worked. Extremely capable in his work, he was at all times cheerful, earnest, cooperative, frank, and honest." After World War II, Quinn graduated from DePaul University thanks to the G.I. Bill. He worked for the Catholic Cemeteries of Chicago for 40 years.

Eileen Prindiville was born before American women had the right to vote under the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920 and graduated from the Academy of Our Lady in 1935. Eileen worked for decades as an assistant to the principal of the Hinsdale Public Middle School. P. J. and Eileen Quinn raised three sons in a single-family home in Hinsdale, Illinois, thanks to a mortgage secured by the Veterans Administration.

Quinn attended St. Isaac Jogues for elementary school in Hinsdale before attending Fenwick High School in Oak Park. Quinn was the cross-country team captain and sports editor of the school newspaper. Quinn then on to graduate from Georgetown University in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (BSFS) degree from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where he was a student of Professor Jan Karski and sports editor for The Hoya.

From 1967 through 1971, Quinn was captain of the Bad Motor Scooters, a traveling basketball team that competed successfully in summer basketball tournaments at Hilliard Homes, Stateway Gardens, 66th and Kimbark on Chicago’s South Side, and Martin Luther King Boys Club on the West Side, where he played against Chicago Bulls legend Bob “Butterbean” Love. Quinn remains a dedicated sports fan, including the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bears, Chicago Blackhawks, and the Chicago Bulls. He is the only Illinois governor known to have dunked a basketball.

After serving in state government and spearheading three major statewide initiative petition drives, Quinn earned a Juris Doctor degree from Northwestern University School of Law in 1980.

Quinn is the eldest of three boys. Tom Quinn has been an attorney since 1979 and his proudest moment in the courtroom was winning a legal settlement in a major case that targeted housing discrimination in the south suburbs of Chicago. John Quinn served as an American history teacher at Fenwick from 1980 to 2022 and served as head basketball coach for more than 30 years. He is in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. P. J., Eileen, Tom, and John always played energetic roles in Pat's petition and referendum drives and political campaigns.

Quinn later married Julie Hancock in 1982 before divorcing in 1986, and later married Monica Walker in 2025.

Family history and heritage

Quinn's relatives hailed from County Mayo in Ireland, where the term boycott was invented following a mass tenant farmer movement against a cruel, unpopular land agent, Charles Boycott. Quinn's grandparents left Ireland in the early 1900s to emigrate to the United States. His paternal grandfather, also named Patrick Quinn, had a stint as a copper miner in Butte, Montana, then came to Chicago's South Side. In 1915, he opened "Quinn's Groceries, Meats & Vegetables" in Chicago. His motto was "Quinn for Quality, Quantity and Service". Quinn's father, P. J. Quinn, worked in the family store and graduated from De La Salle Institute in 1932.

Early activism

Before running for public office, Quinn worked as an organizer for Dan Walker in the 1972 Illinois gubernatorial primary election, working statewide on college campuses (1972 being the first election in which 18-year-olds could vote) before organizing the Metro East and southwestern Illinois in the general election. From January 1973 to July 1975, Quinn served as an ombudsman and assistant to the governor for labor and worker safety.

From July 1975 to December 1982, Quinn served as the secretary-treasurer of the Coalition for Political Honesty, a volunteer initiative petition and referendum organization. From October 1975 to 1976, the Coalition collected signatures and advocated for the Political Honesty Initiative, which called for referendums on three reforms: ending political double dipping, conflict-of-interest voting by Illinois legislators, and the practice of advance pay, wherein legislators could collect their entire annual salary on their first day in office. Radio host Wally Phillips of WGN-AM was among the Political Honesty Initiative petition signers and one of its greatest supporters. Petitions containing 635,128 signatures (an all-time record) were filed with the Illinois Secretary of State at the State Capitol on April 30, 1976, leading the General Assembly to quickly pass a bill in May 1976, ending the 100-year-old advance pay practice once and for all by requiring legislators to be paid monthly after doing their work. The referendum did not appear on the 1976 ballot following the case of Coalition for Political Honesty v. State Board of Elections, which hinged on whether the word "and" in the 1970 Illinois constitution was "conjunctive" or "disjunctive."

In 1976, as a result of Quinn's efforts to end the practice of advance pay, Quinn received a "standing boo-vation" from members of the Illinois General Assembly, led by State Representative Mike Madigan who said that didn’t deserve to be called a fellow Irishman.

In 1977, Quinn led a statewide petition drive for open primaries in Illinois, and in 1978, a statewide petition drive for a property tax freeze. On December 16, 1978, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, Quinn led a campaign where 40,000 Illinois taxpayers sent tea bags to the office of Governor James R. Thompson to protest a lame-duck 40% pay raise for legislators and state officials. Thompson had supported the pay raises, which were later roundly criticized by President Jimmy Carter, United States Senators Adlai Stevenson III and Charles H. Percy, and others. Thompson angrily defended his actions, saying that the governor is not "a nine-to-five clerk," calling it "a different job," but ultimately the tea bag movement prevailed.

Beginning in 1979, Quinn and the Coalition for Political Honesty began an initiative petition drive for what became known as the Cutback Amendment, a constitutional amendment to reduce the size of the Illinois House of Representatives from 177 to 118 members and abolish cumulative voting, requiring House members to run in single-member districts. The proposal was supported by the League of Women Voters. After the petition drive began, the Illinois General Assembly passed legislation to make it more difficult to pass initiative petitions. After submitting 477,112 signatures, the Illinois State Board of Elections struck the question from the ballot, citing the new law, resulting in a lawsuit, Coalition for Political Honesty v. State Board of Elections (II) (1980), the Illinois Supreme Court case found that the petition restrictions were unconstitutional and on the voters' initiative power placed the question on the 1980 ballot.

Illinois voters approved the Cutback Amendment by a 68.7 percent margin (2,112,224 to 962,325) on November 4, 1980. It marked the first and only time in state history that Illinois voters had used initiative petition and binding referendum to enact a constitutional amendment or law. The Associated Press ranked the Cutback Amendment movement as the state's top story of the year.

In 1981 and 1982, Quinn led an initiative petition drive to amend the 1970 Illinois Constitution with the "Illinois Initiative". This amendment was intended to increase the power of petition and binding referendums in the political process. The petition drive collected a sufficient number of signatures, but the Illinois Appellate Court ruled in Lousin v. State Board of Elections (1982) that it could not appear on the ballot.

In 1982, Quinn and the Coalition placed a question on the Chicago ballot calling for a Citizens Utility Board to protect consumers. In 1983, 110 towns in Illinois placed the CUB question on their ballots. On September 20, 1983, Gov. James Thompson signed the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) law (Public Act 83-945) to provide “effective and democratic representation of utility consumers before the Illinois Commerce Commission, the General Assembly, the courts and other public bodies, and by providing consumer education on utility services prices and methods of energy conservation.”

In July 1984, the first CUB membership inserts were included in 3.5 million phone bills. Some 30,000 consumers quickly sent back $5 to join the new group. The next month, 2.3 million gas customers received the CUB insert along with 5 million electric customers in September 1984. Within six months, CUB had grown to 100,000 dues-paying members from all 102 counties in Illinois.

Political career

Cook County Board of Appeals (1982–1986)

In 1982, Quinn won the Democratic primary to serve as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of Appeals, now known as the Cook County Board of Review. Quinn established an ethics code and established a practice of not taking campaign contribution from tax attorneys.

1986 state treasurer campaign

In 1986, Quinn chose to run in the Democratic primary for Illinois treasurer in a four-way primary that also included incumbent treasurer James Donnewald, former treasurer Jerome Cosentino, and LaRouche movement member Robert D. Hart.

In the March 18, 1986, Democratic primary, Donnewald lost to his predecessor, Cosentino, 29.47% to 30.22%, with Quinn coming in a close third with 26.18%.

Chicago Revenue Director (1986-1987)

As the 1987 Chicago mayoral election began, incumbent Mayor Harold Washington faced stiff opposition from former Mayor Jane Byrne in the Democratic primary in February. One issue that rose to prominence was the Chicago Revenue Department, which had been seen as incompetent and corrupt. Washington fired Charles E. Sawyer due to unethical conduct. Washington turned to Quinn, whom he described as "committed to reform," to head the department, effective in November 1986. A Chicago Tribune columnist referred to Quinn as "Mr. Clean" and called him an "obstinately possessed reformer" and "a fine choice." While in office, he also launched a successful parking ticket amnesty program to ensure bills were paid, and made the first-ever agreement between the Chicago Revenue Department and the Illinois Department of Revenue.

During the 1987 Chicago mayoral elections, Washington defeated former Mayor Jane Byrne in the Democratic Primary, and he later faced Ed Vrdolyak of the Solidarity Party, Thomas Hynes of the Chicago First Party, and Donald Haider of the Republican Party in the general election. Washington's campaign regularly spotlighted Quinn and his work at the Revenue Department during both election cycles. After securing a second term, Washington aides Ernest Barefield and Lucille Dobbins orchestrated Quinn's ouster. Quinn resigned at Washington's request on June 25, 1987, writing in his resignation letter, "I am proud of my work at the Department of Revenue and I am proud of the programs and policy changes I've initiated. I remain committed to making government adhere to the highest standards of integrity and competence." Quinn said that when he was hired, he'd been instructed, "No monkey business, no politics, and go by the book," and he said upon his resignation, "I can look myself in the eye every morning and know that's exactly what I did."

A number of issues were later discovered to have motivated Washington's inner circle to turn on Quinn, including Quinn's insistence that politically-connected business owners under court order to pay back unremitted city taxes continue to do so. Daniel Ruth wrote in a tongue-in-cheek column, "Quinn had committed the most unpardonable of civil service sins as revenue director. He had the audacity to do his job."

Illinois State Treasurer (1991–1995)

Incumbent Treasurer Jerome Cosentino, a Democrat, did not run for what would have been a third overall (second consecutive) term, instead opting to run for Secretary of State. Quinn won the 1990 Democratic primary for Illinois treasurer, defeating State Representative Peg McDonnell Breslin, who had been slated by the Democratic Party, in the primary, 51%-49%. Quinn defeated Republican Greg Baise in the general election. Quinn campaigned as a consumer and taxpayer advocate in opposition to big government. Quinn won with 55.7% of the vote.

He pledged during his campaign that he would seek to transform the office into a consumer advocate-style position. He drew attention to special vanity license plates that Ryan's office provided for cronies and the politically connected. Quinn challenged Ryan in the 1994 general election for Secretary of State. Quinn won the Democratic primary, defeating Illinois State Senator Denny Jacobs and LaRouche movement member Rose-Marie Love.

There was a great contrast between Quinn and Ryan, leading Illinois Issues to remark, "You couldn't find two more opposite candidates to run for secretary of state if you asked Hollywood to cast the race." One supporter remarked, "Just everything he talked about, term limits and giving power back to voters, I totally agreed with." Quinn's focus during the campaign was on making the office work for taxpayers and reducing wasteful spending that benefitted politicians, stating of the office:

Roughly a month later, on September 16, 2013, Daley dropped out mid-campaign.

Lisa Madigan, the Illinois Attorney General, had also considered challenging Quinn, but announced that she would not run, as her father, Michael Madigan, was still Speaker of the Illinois House: “I feel strongly that the state would not be well-served by having a governor and speaker of the House from the same family and have never planned to run for governor if that would be the case. With Speaker Madigan planning to continue in office, I will not run for governor,” she announced.

Quinn was ultimately challenged in the Democratic primary by Tio Hardiman, the former director of CeaseFire, but won 72% to 28%.

The income tax that was passed in 2011 was set to expire in 2015, and Quinn was once again in the position of advocating for revenue in an election year by making the 5% rate permanent. The plan to maintain the 5% rate was supported by, among others, former Governor Jim Edgar, a Republican. He also proposed a $500 property tax rebate to help property taxpayers.

Quinn faced Republican businessman Bruce Rauner in the general election. Rauner injected a record amount of his own money into the race, and campaigned on allowing the income tax to expire and curbing the power of labor unions like the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Rauner meanwhile faced allegations that he had engaged in pay-to-play to get his daughter into Walter Payton College Preparatory High School, and that as a businessman, he had threatened a female CEO. Journalist Dave McKinney resigned from the Chicago Sun-Times after the Rauner campaign sent an opposition research file to the Sun-Times editors in an effort to quash the story, and McKinney was put on "house arrest" by the paper.

Quinn was defeated by Rauner in the general election, 50% to 46%.

Post-gubernatorial activities

thumb|right|200px|Quinn at the 2018 [[Chicago Pride Parade, June 2018]]

Since leaving office, Quinn has worked on a variety of policy issues. He has continued to support veterans and raise awareness for service members and their families through the Portrait of a Soldier exhibit honoring the more than 300 Illinois service members, which he has had displayed across the state.

Quinn donated his personal papers, including a large number related to individuals killed in action from Illinois since the September 11 attacks, to Northwestern University.

In 2024, Quinn discovered that the Illinois General Assembly had quietly stopped scaling the standard exemption to inflation, essentially a backdoor tax hike. The practice was later reinstated as a result of Quinn's efforts. In the same year, Quinn publicly opposed efforts to provide taxpayer dollars to private sports stadiums, calling for a referendum on the issue and getting a referendum question on the issue on the ballot in eight precincts in Chicago, including his house and the house of stadium advocate Mayor Brandon Johnson. Residents agreed with Quinn, with approximately 80% voting no on the referendum.

Take Charge Chicago and Swart v. City of Chicago

In June 2016, Quinn announced Take Charge Chicago, a new petition drive to put term limits on Chicago's mayor (the only city out of the ten largest in the country to not have term limits) and create a new Consumer Advocate position in Chicago. At the time, Rahm Emanuel was actively considering a third term for Mayor of Chicago.

Quinn submitted 86,481 signatures in August 2018, in excess of the legal requirement of 52,533. Despite a fierce objection from Emanuel's campaign, the Electoral Board found sufficient number of signatures later in August, and days later Emanuel announced his decision to no longer seek a third term.

Swart v. City of Chicago

While circulating petitions for Take Charge Chicago, several circulators were harassed in Millennium Park in Chicago by security personnel hired by the city. In October 2019, Quinn represented Take Charge Chicago petition circulators in federal court when they joined Swart v. City of Chicago, a case brought by students from Wheaton College who had been similarly removed from proselytizing.

Quinn, Ed Mullen, and John Mauck, the attorney for the students from Wheaton College, alleged that Chicago had deprived their clients of their rights under the First Amendment, and that Millennium Park is a traditional public forum, a property that is open to public expression and assembly. Judge John Robert Blakey found in favor of the petition passers, writing that "the City's restrictions prohibit

reasonable forms of expression in large areas of the Park," and continuing:

As a result, the City was required to allow First Amendment activities, such as petition passing, in Millennium Park. Quinn later successfully represented individuals attempting to circulate petitions in other public city properties, including Daley Civic Center Plaza for Christmas markets.

Other legal cases

Quinn also represented a number of individuals in Morgan v. White and Morgan v. State Board of Elections, two cases during the COVID-19 pandemic to require the allowance of electronic signatures for the passing of petitions, which would allow for social distancing as well as allow additional access for people with disabilities.

Quinn joined, as the lead plaintiff, a lawsuit for an elected school board in Chicago, Quinn v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago.

2018 attorney general campaign

On October 27, 2017, Quinn announced he would run for Illinois Attorney General in the 2018 election. His campaign focused on ethics reform (particularly with regard to utility companies and red light camera operators), consumer rights and protections, protecting access to healthcare, and combating federal actions by the Trump administration. Kwame Raoul won the eight-person primary on March 20, 2018, with 30.17% (390,472 votes), and Quinn placed second with 27.23% (352,425 votes), winning most of Illinois' 102 counties. Raoul went on to defeat Erika Harold in the November election.

Electoral history

For Illinois Attorney General

As Governor of Illinois (with Lt. Governor)

2014

2010

As Lt. Governor (with Governor)

2006 Election for Governor/Lieutenant Governor of Illinois
Rod Blagojevich/Pat Quinn (D) (inc.), 49.79%
Judy Baar Topinka/Joe Birkett (R), 39.26%
Rich Whitney/Julie Samuels (Green), 10.36%
2002 Election for Governor / Lieutenant Governor
Rod Blagojevich/Pat Quinn (D), 52%
Jim Ryan/Carl Hawkinson (R), 45%