Pat Quinn a standout in Illinois government

Lt. Governor sets an example to follow

September 24, 2008
By Drew Thomason
Staff Writer

Not all Illinois politicians lack consciences. I know in the current political climate this is a hard concept to accept, but I assure you it is true. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn is the brightest example of a politician who actually cares about his constituents.

Recently, Gov. Rod Blagojevich made dramatic budget cuts, which included closing 11 state parks. Quinn has decided to stand up to Blagojevich, but not in the usual political manor of bluffs, stalls and intimidations. Instead he has decided to take a grass roots approach, organizing an online petition at SaveOurParks.org.

This is not new to Quinn; In fact, he has made his career this way. Last year he started a similar petition demanding Blagojevich and the General Assembly not grant themselves pay increases. In the end, he garnered more than 17,000 online signatures and stopped politicians from rewarding themselves with an unnecessary raises.

Saving state parks will protect islands of wilderness throughout Illinois, but it will also give people to continue enjoying nature. A large amount of people, myself included, don’t have access to vast acreages of pristine countryside. Parks are the only means to immerse ourselves in the same environment our ancestors enjoyed when settling Illinois.

“Most people can’t afford vacations,” Christina Cameron of Morris said in the State Journal Register. “We can’t go to Hawaii. We can’t even go to Wisconsin. We go to these parks. We go camping. We go fishing. It’s a way for us to get out of the daily dregs of life and get some relaxation.”

However there are more than aesthetic reasons to prevent the closing of parks. For starters, the $14 million cut to the Illinois Department of Resources, the agency in charge of state parks, is barely a dent in the approximately $1.4 billion worth of cuts Blagojevich’s pen has precipitated. $14 million does not even compare to the natural capital lost by the closing of parks. Also, simply closing gates on such large amounts of property will only keep law abiding citizens out, not those who would cause harm to the sensitive ecosystems.

So thank you, Pat Quinn. Thank you for bucking the Illinois political tradition of corruption and attitude of ‘where’s mine?’ Your colleagues would do well to study and learn from your example.  Oh and thank you for providing a glimmer of hope for idealist in Illinois politics. You have proven that you can have a soul and still be in politics.