Pat Quinn did not announce 400 new Motorola jobs for the state. He didn't bask in the glow of bringing 1300 United Airlines jobs to Illinois, either.
That job fell to Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Quinn did sign an historic education reform bill this week, but Emanuel got all the glory (he did order it up, afterall.)
Emanuel, who didn't invite Quinn to a spate of jobs announcements and clearly was the most instrumental in getting the bill bassed, said there is no beef.
"When there's not a conflict, don't create one," the mayor said.
If there's no conflict, why has Quinn turned into the disappearing governor?
He may have been able to soak up some of the credit for a legislative education victory, but his boasting was lost in the midst of a meandering speech, set amid a backdrop of Barnum and Bailey. A high school band played Katy Perry songs so loudly reporters couldn't hear if they were able to ask questions about how the law might spark a tug of war between the Chicago Teacher's Union and the Chicago School Board. Quinn certainly didn't answer any.
That might have been by design, however, as Quinn appears to be avoiding local media.
Word surfaced Tuesday that the governor would appear on MSNBC at noon -- but the governor's staff wanted to make sure "WMAQ didn't know" he would be in the NBC Tower.
Local
They surreptitiously asked if there were a way to get Quinn in and out of the building without the reporters knowing. Good to know the governor recalls our call letters. Bad to know he wants to duck any questions.It turns out Quinn didn't show for the interview because of "a scheduling conflict."
When asked about future availability, so I could ask questions about the school reform bill, his staff responded: "we are working on his schedule but he should be available later this week."
Maybe by then we'll have alot more questions than just education reform to ask him.
