![\"quinn_vallas\"\n](\"http:\/\/www.progressivefox.com\/wp-content\/gallery\/political\/quinn_vallas.jpg\"\n\t\t "\\"quinn_vallas\\"\n")
\n \t<\/a>\n\t\t <\/div>\n \nFour years ago, Vallas told host Jeff Berkowitz on the Public Affairs cable TV show<\/a> that he\u2019s now a Republican.<\/p>\n VALLAS: \u201cI would take a Republican primary ballot.\u201d It gets better<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For the next two weeks expect to see the Governor’s staff and the patronage army running around the state gathering signatures for Quinn-Vallas, and by next Halloween we can expect to see something really scary. Two grey-haired, white males (Quinn-Vallas) running around the state of Illinois pointing their finger at two other white males (the likely Republican ticket) saying, “they are really, really, really bad! Vote for me instead.”\u00a0 Because it is a campaign year, you might hear Quinn replace, “I don’t care if you don’t get Social Security, you will lose part of your pension” with, “I want to raise the minimum wage.” For the record, I support an increase in wages, and oppose the pension cuts.<\/p>\n I don’t think Quinn-Vallas at the top of the Democratic ticket is strong enough in 2014.\u00a0 Quinn may have only eeked out a victory in 2010 because he had a strong female, Sheila Simon, on the ticket. Quinn won’t have the legendary Simon name to buoy his chances in 2014.<\/p>\n Winning Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n Even if you don’t care about the issues and you are one of those Democrats who only cares about winning elections for the sake of winning, you ought to be scratching your head right now.\u00a0 On November 7th, David Ormsby hinted <\/a>that Quinn might select a minority female as his running mate.\u00a0 Others in political circles have been talking about State Senator Kwamee Raul for awhile now, but Ormsby suggested two others on the list.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Cook County Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough<\/strong>\u2018s<\/a> name has surfaced and that of State Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia<\/strong><\/a> (D-Aurora)<\/p>\n \u201cYarbrough has made it to the list,\u201d says the committeeman. \u201cChapa LaVia, too.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Selecting a qualified, minority female running mate seems like a sane, politically savvy decision.\u00a0 But instead, Quinn went with a middle-aged white guy who creates controversy, has a poor performance record, pulled a Republican ballot in 2010 and even said he is a Republican.\u00a0 Expect the Democratic patronage machine to sweep that little fact under the carpet, but African American leaders seem less forgiving right now.\u00a0 From the Chicago Tribune<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n “Ald. Carrie Austin, 34th<\/sup>, said she was disappointed and suggested she might not be as motivated when it comes to marshalling the troops in her ward come election time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should have had some sort of forewarning that this was another individual on the short list,\u201d Austin said. \u201cBut to say nothing?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m upset with my governor now, yes I am,\u201d she said. \u201cHow did they get off the short list. . . . He\u2019s got to tell us why he wrote them off his short list. . . . On his short list, you had a state senator, you has a former state representative (Ald. Will Burns, 4th<\/sup>), you had our city treasurer, all African Americans. You had qualified African Americans on your short list.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can speak for 34, and it ain\u2019t lookin\u2019 good,\u201d she said of the potential support from her ward organization.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Maybe Quinn’s electoral strategy is to borrow and “squeezy” <\/a>some money out of the depleted state budget for projects in these wards?<\/p>\n And, in 2014, Issues Matter<\/strong><\/p>\n Less than a week ago voters rejected Paul Vallas and everything he stands for.\u00a0 Last Tuesday, the voters of Connecticut rejected Michelle Rhee \/ Paul Vallas “reforms”<\/a> that forward corporate-run government.\u00a0 Click on this link to hear what the Working Families Party <\/a>had to say about voters effectively kicking Vallas out. Here’s my favorite quote:<\/p>\n Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Connecticut Working Families Party, whose party members have wanted to oust Vallas, said in a statement: “It’s not surprising Vallas is leaving town. His brand of corporate reform turned out to be toxic, and the voters have rejected him. But the last thing he deserves is a promotion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And in New York, voters elected a populist Democrat who stood with the middle class and public employees when they voted in the first Democratic mayor in 20 years, Mayor-Elect Bill De Blasio.\u00a0 Not only did De Blasio run on a platform focused on education reform that reversed the Rhee\/Vallas\/Rahm\/Duncan education privatization schemes<\/a>, he won the election handily!<\/p>\n On the issue of education reform, Pat Quinn’s choice of Vallas goes against the tide of voters who are, through elections, getting rid of the corporate education privatizers.<\/p>\n
\nBERKOWITZ: \u201cDo you think of yourself as a Republican?\u201d
\nVALLAS: \u201cI\u2019m more of a Republican than a Democrat.\u201d
\nBERKOWITZ: \u201cIf you run again for office you\u2019d be running as a Republican?\u201d
\nVALLAS: \u201cI would, yes, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n