Hynes dodges specifics regarding
cutting grants to religious organizations

Dan Hynes refused to be specific, at his news conference, this morning (Wednesday, September 2, 2009), about what he would do about the hundreds of grants to religious organizations that are contained in the Capital Bill and that amount to tens of millions of dollars.

State Comptroller Dan Hynes, at his campaign kickoff news conference
at the Sheraton Hotel at Columbus Drive and the Chicago River
 in downtown Chicago, on September 2, 2009.
Photo by Rob Sherman.  Click on picture for larger image.

Hynes announced that one of the key planks in his campaign platform was to eliminate 625 million dollars of discretionary grants, each year.  See Page 9 of his campaign platform.

I asked Hynes if the cuts would include the blatantly unconstitutional grants to houses of worship, parochial schools and religious ministries that have made the Capital Bill "Pilgrim Baptist on steroids."

Hynes answer was vague and evasive.  He said that he has identified over a billion dollars of grants that he would cut, but refused to say which grants those were or if the Capital Bill grants to religious organizations were included.

When I asked Hynes what he would do while still Comptroller for the next sixteen months, if he was asked to pay out on any of the grants to religious organizations, Hynes was again vague and unspecific.

Hynes said, "If a request to make a payment on any of those grants to religious organizations was presented to my office, I would review each one individually."

When I got back to the office, this afternoon, I called Green Party candidate for Governor Richard Whitney and asked him the same question about what he would do about the unconstitutional grants to houses of worship, parochial schools and religious ministries.

Whitney had no problem showing leadership on this issue by providing a direct, specific, sensible answer.

Green Party candidate for Governor Richard Whitney,
at a news conference at the Amtrak Center in  Champaign, Illinois,
in July, 2009. Photo by Rob Sherman.  Click on picture for larger image.

Whitney said, "Inasmuch as I have a duty to defend the State and Federal Constitutions, any attempt to give money to religious organizations that violates the Constitution must be stricken, so I would use the line item veto to get rid of these grants."

Hynes talked at length, today, about leadership.  Hynes concluded his remarks by trying to smear Pat Quinn with this line:  "Our budget deficit is a product of our leadership deficit.  And I'm running for Governor to fill it."

Governor Pat Quinn, at a news conference on clean water
at the Jim Thompson Center in downtown Chicago, on August 23, 2009.
Photo by Rob Sherman.  Click on picture for larger image.

However, by being vague and evasive and ducking and dodging specifics in his answers to all of the reporters' questions, not just mine, Hynes showed that it is he who fails the leadership test.

I've been to several news conferences by Pat Quinn and several by Rich Whitney.  At each and every one of those news conferences, Pat and Rich have had the courage to take a stand on the tough questions that have been asked of them.  I didn't agree with the some of the answers that I heard from Pat and from Rich, but at least those two know the meaning of the word, "Leadership," by providing reliable, specific answers that people can act upon regarding the hot social and political issues of the day.

It would certainly be better to have a Governor who is willing to take a stand on tough issues, rather than somebody slippery like Dan Hynes who has mastered the art of hiding when the going gets tough.

If Dan Hynes wants to find out what leadership is all about, he could start by asking Pat Quinn and Rich Whitney.

I went to Dan's news conference as a "friendly," with every intention of finding something, anything, to spin Dan Hynes' appearance in a positive way because Dan has been helpful with regards to not paying on the Pilgrim Baptist million dollar grant.  Dan could even be a great governor, some day, but his performance, today, was just awful.

It's early in the campaign.  Maybe he'll do better, next time.  However, the first thing that Dan needs to do is free himself from his handlers, if they are the ones who are telling him that the way to succeed in politics is to attack your opponent, not provide specific answers about anything and then, after a short Q&A with reporters, flee the room without taking any more questions and disappear into another conference room, the way Dan did, to hide from any further reporters' questions.  That's not leadership, Dan.

That's the Karl Rove fear-and-smear, hit-and-run way of doing things.  It's the way in which the Republican Party has mastered the art of losing elections. 

It also doesn't work when you're campaign theme is "leadership," and you are competing against two real leaders like Pat Quinn and Rich Whitney, not to mention real leaders on the Republican side like Matt Murphy.

You're not fooling anybody, Dan.