You know you’re infamous in politics when your name becomes a verb. Remember how Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork was “borked” by the Senate Judiciary Committee? Or how our last president “Bushwhacked” America?
Now, Gov. Pat Quinn has joined that company. The Republican Governor’s Association has just debuted patquinned.com, a website that invites Illinoisans to tell stories of how they’ve been “Pat Quinned.”
The site was designed to showcase the group’s latest, “Had Enough,” which attempts to link Quinn to his ex-boss, Rod Blagojevich, just as Blagojevich’s corruption trial begins. Even though the two men were barely speaking to each other by the end of Blagojevich’s governorship. And obviously, no one wanted to see Rod Blagojevich impeached more than Pat Quinn.
“As governors, Quinn and Blagojevich have failed us,” the site's first video ad begins, blaming the pair for 11 percent unemployment, 215,000 lost jobs, and a $13 billion budget deficit.
“Had enough?” the voiceover concludes. “Pat Quinn has failed us, and we can’t afford him anymore.”
To listen to that ad, you’d think those two guys were running mates.
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As for the Pat Quinning, the site lists citizens' own examples: Cheryl was Pat Quinned “when Gov. Pat Quinn tried to raise my taxes by 33%! That’s ridiculous. He’s worse than Blago!” Rupert was Pat Quinned “when I voted for Art Turner for Lt. Governor and he threw my vote away because he didn’t think Art was good enough to be his Lt. Governor.”
Obviously, Quinn needs to fight back by inventing his own verb: Bill Bradying, to collect your salary even on days you blow off work (or just use the word "billed" in the same way as management consultants do: "I totally Billed them for hours I didn't work."). Quinn has been criticizing Brady for a Daily Herald article that revealed he missed 25 Senate sessions after winning his party’s nomination for governor.
“Senator Brady missed votes on treatment for breast and cervical cancer, protections for abused and neglected children, and creating penalties for governmental ethics violations,” Quinn spokeswoman Mica Matsoff said. “If Bill Brady can’t be trusted to show up for only 43 days of votes, how can we trust him to do the 365-day-a-year job of governor?”
What about you, reader? Have you ever been Pat Quinned? Or pulled a Bill Brady on the job? Ward Room wants to hear your stories, too.
