Quinn hits opponent's hiring record, minimum-wage stance
Chicago Sun-Times, March 18, 2010
SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. Quinn and House Speaker Michael Madigan took turns Wednesday attacking GOP candidate for governor Sen. Bill Brady as an anti-labor politician who would work to abolish the minimum wage.
Speaking at a gathering of the Illinois Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Quinn told the pro-union crowd that Brady owned a construction company that only hired non-union workers, and Madigan said the Republican senator from Bloomington would work "to spread that gospel all over the state of Illinois."
"We're not going to have a middle class if we allow a lot of anti-labor, anti-union operators to get in politics and tear to shreds fundamental things we all agree on," Quinn said. "He doesn't believe in the minimum wage. He wants to abolish it."
Brady's campaign offered a pointed rebuttal.
"We're not going to have a middle class if we continue the job-killing policies and insider politics of the Blagojevich-Quinn administration," Brady campaign manager Jerry Clarke said.
A Brady campaign official added that Brady's construction company has hired both union and non-union workers in its 40-year history. On the minimum wage, Brady spokesman Dan Egler said the senator favors "re-coupling the state minimum wage with the federal wage," which is $7.25 an hour, 75 cents less than the state's current minimum wage. But Egler said, "I don't remember him ever saying" he would abolish it altogether.
Quinn also accused Brady of embracing a budget proposed by the conservative Illinois Policy Institute that would impose $4.7 billion in cuts -- more than double what Quinn has proposed -- and freeze spending for three years. The governor called it a "slash-and-burn" policy.
Still, Quinn and Madigan both predicted that the governor's race would be heated, tight and expensive. "We're going to be in the toughest political battle in Illinois in a long, long time," Quinn said.
On another front, Quinn signed legislation that will move the primary election from February to the third Tuesday in March. The election was moved to the first week in February to give President Obama an early victory during his 2008 run, but produced one of the lowest ever voter turnouts in 2010.
