When it comes to the November 2 gubernatorial election, voters might want to ask themselves one question: What would Abraham Lincoln do?
According to a cheeky new ad produced by the Illinois Education Association, Lincoln certainly wouldn't vote for Republican nominee Bill Brady. In the ad, a Lincoln look-alike intones against Brady's educational policies. An actor's lips hover atop the look-alike's face, as cinematic splotches and film noise seek to lend authenticity to the spot. "Lincoln" arrives about 30 seconds in:
It's one of the stranger bits of campaign media thus far in 2010. (The IEA, which endorsed Gov. Pat Quinn's campaign, is using it to promote a new website that attacks Brady's stances on education, pensions, and labor issues). With the governor's race less than a month away, it remains to be seen if other former presidents will join the current one in helping a candidate seeking the seat.
GOP gubernatorial nominee Bill Brady has spent 17 years in the state
capitol. What legislative accomplishments does he have to show for it?
The Tribune's Eric Zorn dug into the Republican's record last Friday
and concluded that the Republican "hasn't done much heavy lifting in Springfield."
Brady's stated chief achievement is the creation of Heartland Community
College, which actually opened two years before he was elected but
which he's since found money in the state budget to fund. "A fine
thing, no doubt," Zorn adds. "But small-bore and routine as legislative
accomplishments go." And it's difficult to see how Heartland will
benefit from a Brady administration intent on cutting spending in virtually all departments, including higher education; the college’s vice president of
business complained to the Pantagraph this summer that "declines in state support
make it challenging to address Heartland’s continued enrollment growth
while pursuing the college’s goals of access and affordability."
Brady's meager output is a point Gov. Pat Quinn raised during the first gubernatorial debate last month. "You don't just talk about it," he said. "You have a record." Watch it:
With news out that Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman plans to
leave his post before Mayor Daley leaves office, Chicago Teachers Union
President Karen Lewis says that she would like to see the district's central office restructured. The union head prefers that the next CPS chief has an education background.
Given Illinois state government's inability to pay its bills, it's no wonder that voter distrust of state government is on the rise, as a new survey finds. But the survey revealed a few hopeful signs, too.
Chicago Public Schools head Ron Huberman says the almost three weeklong sit-in at the Whittier
elementary school field house, where parents have taken over the
building in an attempt to prevent its demolition, as an accident waiting
to happen. Huberman says the safety of the situation makes him "very
nervous."
