Governor Pat Quinn on Recall - May 2009 - Quinn For Illinois

Governor Pat Quinn speaks about his longtime support of the power of recall.

October 15, 2009
SPRINGFIELD Governor Pat Quinn, long Illinois leading proponent of the right to recall, today congratulated the voters of Illinois on an historic victory the General Assemblys vote to put the Recall Amendment on the November 2010 ballot.

I have always believed that the highest office in the land is the office of citizen, Governor Quinn said. No Governor who fails to perform should be allowed to disregard the will of the people. Every elected official should be held accountable by the citizens of Illinois not just on Election Day, but every day.

Quinn has supported the right to recall at every level since 1975, both as a citizen and as an elected official. Although he believes that recall efforts should not be undertaken lightly, Quinn says the mere possibility of recall gives elected officials an added incentive to deal squarely with the voters who put them into office.

When everyday people fail to perform on the job, their employers dont have to wait for two or three years to show them the door, Quinn said. The people of Illinois pay the Governors salary; they should have the right to fire a Governor who doesnt perform as promised.

By contrast, Comptroller Hynes has been an outspoken opponent of the peoples right to recall shoddy, lazy, or deceptive elected officials. In a 2007 letter to the Chicago Tribune, Hynes said: But the beauty of representative government is that if the voters dont like someone, we can vote him or her out of office next time around. Voters also have the frequently used opportunity, in mid-term elections, to handcuff an underperforming executive by voting his or her party out of power in the Legislature.

As a lifelong believer in the power of democracy, Governor Quinn said he is grateful to the General Assembly for understanding that voters deserve the right to take immediate, direct action to unseat a failing, dishonest Governor.

Todays vote is the culmination of 30 years of hard work on behalf of Illinois voters, Governor Quinn said. This is the ultimate ethics reform giving the people of Illinois the power to decide for themselves how best to handle a Governor who isnt up to the job.

The right of recall has been endorsed enthusiastically on the editorial pages of newspapers statewide, including the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald, the Rockford Register Star, the Belleville News-Democrat, the Champaign News-Gazette, the Daily Illini, the Bloomington Pantagraph, and the Decatur Herald and Review.