Poor Pat Quinn: Are you ready for your legacy?

Poor Pat Quinn: Are you ready for your legacy?
Poor Pat Quinn: Are you ready for your legacy?

Poor Pat Quinn: Are you ready for your legacy?

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Yay. New budget. Yay. New casino in Chicago. Yay. Quinn has 60 days to slow this story to a crawl, giving more and more media outlets the chance to speculate on what is next. Yay.

Poor Pat Quinn. Remember when his job was all about walking across the state to raise awareness for health care? Or telling us the dangers of household cleaners?

The one-time liberal crusader is now faced with the unthinkable: Approving a casino in Chicago. And not to mention approving a budget that will short-change education and social services. All that adds up to a legacy, gov’nor. It will definitely be historic and will tie Governor Quinn’s name to gambling forever. All this while his former boss tells his life story in Chicago.

And did you see this front page picture of State Senator Terry Link?

“YES. YESSSSS. YESSSSSS!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSS VICTORY IS OURS!!!!! YESSSS, NOW LET”S DESTROY THE JEDI KNIGHTS!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.”

B story: Daley joined a law firm. Not just any law firm, but the law firm that brokered the infamous parking meter deal. C’mon Rich. Seriously? Were you that hard up for work that you took the only offer on the table? This does nothing for your reputation.

But this is the way of the world of Chicago politics. Once you serve the public, you serve the corporations who want to benefit from the public. Daley says he won’t have anything to do with city contracts, but that certainly woulnd’t stop him from saying to colleagues, “Oh, that contract? Yeah, just call my buddy Jimmy…”

C story: It’s sort of like when an employer cuts a bunch of jobs and then when the economy turns around, they still don’t fill those jobs. That’s what it’s like, these 4th of July fireworks. You are ruining the sacred ritual of drunk teenagers who come out in the cover of darkness to watch pretty fire.

Who wins? Lollapalooza. They get the runoff of drunk teens, looking for that one summer trip on the Metra. 

Weather: I missed the news cycle on Monday, but caught up with Emanuel’s presser about the closing of North Avenue Beach on Memorial Day. Too much heat, he said. The Tribune has an awesome next morning video, right out of a zombie movie. But in the end, was the unusual closing really about too much heat? Or was it about gangs?

Sports: Last night, the NBA Finals began with a Game 1 win for the Miami Heat. I watched the 4th quarter and during a timeout, noticed a big celebrity sitting courtside. His name is Julius Peppers and he plays defensive line for the Chicago Bears. In the Eastern Conference Finals, Peppers was spotted sitting courtside with a Chicago White Sox hat on. I gave him mad props for supporting the Chicago team. But now, I’m not so sure. Is it possible that Peppers is a Heat fan? And if that’s the case, should the Bears just cut him outright? Forget what I said earlier about how great he is on the football field, what I mean to say is that he is lazy, unproductive and a liability.

Because of this betrayal, I hope football never comes back.