Brady
Governor Pat Quinn's nominee for the Prisoner Review Board, Careen Gordon, withdrew her name from consideration just hours before an Illinois Senate hearing on her appointment.
Governor Quinn selected former State Representative Careen Gordon, a Morris Democrat, for the $86,000 per year part time position last January within a few days of her vote for the largest tax increase in Illinois history. The tax increase passed the House of Representatives by one vote. Gordon specifically campaigned against Quinn's 67 percent tax hike during her failed re-election campaign.
Then, after a lost election and a meeting with Governor Quinn, Gordon just happened to have a change of heart on an issue that she so adamantly campaigned against. She cast the deciding vote for the tax increase during the lame-duck session and her final days in office.
Gordon publicly admitted that she and Governor Quinn had met prior to the vote and had discussed the tax increase and her potential appointment to the Prisoner Review Board.
This doesn't pass the smell test. Any taxpayer in Illinois can do the math on Gordon's sudden flip flop. It makes sense that she withdrew her nomination before anyone had an opportunity to ask her any questions under oath.
The publicly known facts justify an investigation. If she chooses not to investigate, Attorney General Madigan needs to explain to taxpayers why she has continually abdicated her responsibility to investigate public corruption in her eight years as Illinois Attorney General.