Quinn, Pat

Patrick Joseph Quinn (born December 16, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Illinois from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as an activist by founding the Coalition for Political Honesty, which used citizen-initiated referendum questions to advocate for political reforms, and later served as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of (Property) Tax Appeals from 1982 to 1986, Illinois State Treasurer from 1991 to 1995, and the 45th lieutenant governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Quinn is a graduate of Georgetown University and Northwestern University School of Law. Quinn began his political career working as an aide to then-Illinois Governor Dan Walker before launching a series of citizen-led petition drives, most notably the 1980 Cutback Amendment, which reduced the size of the Illinois House of Representatives from 177 to 118. It marked the first and only time in state history that Illinois voters had used initiative petition and binding referendum to enact a constitutional amendment or law. After the passage of the Cutback Amendment, Quinn continued to organize petition drives and was elected as a commissioner on the Cook County Board of (Property) Tax Appeals in 1982; he later served as revenue director in the administration of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington. He was elected Treasurer of Illinois in 1990 and ran for secretary of state in 1994, United States senator in 1996, lieutenant governor in 1998, and attorney general in 2018. In Illinois' 2002 gubernatorial election, Quinn won the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Illinois in the primary and was paired with then-U.S. Representative Rod Blagojevich in the general election. He was sworn into office as lieutenant governor in 2003, becoming the first Democrat to hold the office since 1977. Both Quinn and Blagojevich were reelected in 2006. Quinn assumed the governorship on January 29, 2009, after Governor Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office on corruption charges, with the contrast between the two men prompting the New York Times to call Quinn "the anti-Blagojevich." Quinn secured a full term in office in the 2010 gubernatorial election, defeating Republican State Senator Bill Brady by a margin of less than 1% out of about 3.5 million votes cast. The election was ranked by Politico as one of the top upsets that year. While in office, Quinn worked to provide voters the power to recall a sitting governor, passed a $31 billion capital construction plan, legalized civil unions and same-sex marriage (prior to the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision by the United States Supreme Court), expanded access to healthcare with the Affordable Care Act, and abolished the death penalty. Quinn was narrowly defeated in 2014 by Republican candidate Bruce Rauner.