Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel columnist Jim Stingl is calling our governor a welsher.
In January, Pat Quinn promised to spend a day working at a Wisconsin food pantry if the Packers beat the Bears in the NFC Championship game. He also promised to wear a Packers jersey.
The Packers won, 21-14, but Quinn has not yet crossed the Cheddar Curtain.
Cardinal Francis George promised Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki a deep-dish pizza, and he paid up. Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Museum of Art promised to lend the Milwaukee Art Museum a Renoir if the Packers beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl. It’s arriving this fall.
Granted, a day with Pat Quinn is a much less appealing prize than a pizza or a Renoir. But a bet is a bet, and Wisconsinites are getting impatient.
“It’s baseball season now, and we’re still waiting for the Democratic governor to get up here in his mortifying Packers gear and volunteer at a Wisconsin food pantry,” Stingl wrote. Then, referring to Wisconsin’s controversial Supreme Court election, he rubbed it in a little more. “We’re all going to be too busy recounting election ballots to notice Quinn if he comes anytime soon.”
The problem is that Quinn didn’t realize Wisconsin’s newly elected governor, Scott Walker, would turn out to be such a … cheesehead. Quinn was scheduled to work a food bank on Feb. 21 but canceled because he didn’t want to step into the turmoil created by Walker’s attempt to strip public employees of collective bargaining rights. Walker might have demanded Quinn return the senators hiding out in McHenry County. Plus, Walker was inviting Illinois businesses to “Escape to Wisconsin” to avoid Quinn’s income tax increase.
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Quinn spokesman Grant Klinzman says the governor “fully intends to live up to the terms of the bet,” but “he’s a very, very busy guy.”
The governor could just wait a year, until Walker loses a recall election. The only problem with that is, the Packers might win another Super Bowl, which would require Quinn to spend two days at a Wisconsin food bank.
Unfortunately, there’s no way Quinn can propose changing the terms of the bet. As a governor, he’s a public employee, and Walker has made it clear he won’t bargain with public employees. The lesson here is, Democrats shouldn’t make deals with Scott Walker.
