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Political Scientist Jackson Comments On Governor Quinn's Recent Decision

Governor Pat Quinn's Facebook Page

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announced on Wednesday that he will use a line-item veto to stop the state’s lawmakers from receiving paychecks until the legislature sends him a pension overhaul plan.

Political scientist John Jackson with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute calls Quinn's move "symbolic politics." He said that the state needs a governor who is engaged in the legislative process,  and for whatever reason Quinn is not.

"Clearly he's not gotten down to the the legislative process and the day to day making of the sausage the way some governors do,” Jackson said.  “George Yyan was actually the best we've probably ever had at doing that and Jim Thompson was very, very good at that."

Jackson said Quinn is not Illinois' first governor to try this tactic.

"It absolutely harkens back to the days that Governor Quinn's mentor, Governor Dan Walker, did some of the same kind of pressure tactics against the general assembly back in the early 1970s,” Jackson said. “It didn't work then. It won't work now. It's just for [theatrical] effect."

Jackson said Quinn probably figured the only people more unpopular in the state right now than he is, is the General Assembly as an institution.