Should Quinn be held accountable for botched early prison release program?


Gov.
Pat Quinn was quoted by the Associated Press last week as saying he's answered
all questions about his administration's controversial, secret and completely
botched early prison release program, so he's done talking about it.
I beg to differ.
I called the Department of Corrections soon after I saw that quote and asked a
few questions that
I've never seen asked.
For instance, state Sen. Bill Brady, a Republican candidate for governor,
claims that Corrections Director Michael Randle has said he had informed the
governor about the so-called "Meritorious Good Time Push" program,
which let attempted murderers and other violent types out of prison
early — several of
which were then re-arrested for violent crimes. Gov. Quinn, however, has said
that he didn't know about the program until he read about it in the newspapers.
How does the director explain the discrepancy, I wanted to know.
I also asked whether the word from inside was true that Director Randle had
made himself the department's direct conduit to the governor. How often, on
average, did the two men talk every week, I asked.
And, most importantly, if Gov. Quinn is telling the truth that he didn't know
about this disastrous and now suspended MGT Push plan, what reason can Director
Randle provide for his failure to inform the governor?
Not one of those questions were answered. I received an e-mail pointing me to
an audio file of the governor's press conference during which he talked
about how things got
so out of hand. But none of my answers were found in Quinn's comments, except
that the governor reiterated he did not know about MGT Push, and that it was a
mistake and that he had killed the program.
Quinn did make some good points in his presentation. For instance, inmates
released under the program, beginning in mid-September, would've all been out of prison by
this month anyway.
But the governor also spent much of his time laying the blame on the General
Assembly for the debacle. Quinn claimed that the director's hands were tied
because state law required that some pretty nasty convicts must be eligible for
early release. While partially true, this was an accelerated early release
program, and the responsibility for that acceleration — and the crimes
committed during the early release periods — must fall on the administration, and
ultimately on Quinn himself.
We need more answers about this botched operation, regardless of what the
governor says. Quinn has stonewalled tough questions while answering only those
that he can spin —
and he isn't doing a very good job of that, either.
If Quinn and Director Randle won't provide more answers, then the General
Assembly must act by holding hearings with full subpoena powers.
Another Republican running for governor, state Sen. Kirk Dillard, is also
pressing for an investigation. Dillard wants the entire legislature to sit as a
"Committee of the Whole" with full subpoena powers to get to the
bottom of this mess.
"Governor Quinn and his administration continue to provide vastly
different stories about these programs including who made the decision to
authorize the early release, why violent criminals were included in the
program, and why the MGT program was secretive," Dillard was quoted as
saying in a press release.
AFSCME, the union which represents prison workers, also wants a bipartisan
probe in the form of a "a special joint-task force, including legislators from both
parties and both chambers, to answer urgent questions about the administration
of the corrections department.
Full hearings with subpoena powers are probably the last thing the Democrats
who control the General Assembly want, particularly in an election year. But
this botched program literally endangered the lives of Illinois citizens. At
least one prisoner released early was subsequently arrested for shooting
somebody — and that's
just what we know of. The whole program was concocted and conducted in secret,
and details have been few and far between.
For six years, Illinois endured the Rod Blagojevich administration, which made
a bad habit of keeping things secret, blaming the General Assembly for its own
mistakes and wrecking almost everything it touched. This early release program
and its aftermath look more than just vaguely familiar.
When Pat Quinn took over after Blagojevich was impeached and ousted, he said he
would be different, that he believed in accountability and transparency in
government. Quinn's behavior on this issue, however, is downright unacceptable.
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