Quinn, Brady Tout Experience On Last Lap of Campaign

With less than a week until Election Day, it looks like a tight race for Illinois Governor.

Pre-election polls show Republican State Senator Bill Brady of Bloomington has a chance to take the office from incumbent Pat Quinn, a Democrat.

Brady said if he is elected, he will give up a leadership role in his family's real estate development business.

Governor Quinn has tried to nail Brady for using his position as a state senator to help line his own pockets. Published reports detail that Brady voted for legislation affecting land near Champaign that his family's home construction firm had purchased with plans to develop it. The project did not go forward, but the measure would have upped the land's property value. Quinn said Brady's vote was a conflict of interest

"There are no conflicts with my business and state government," he said. "But being Governor of the State of Illinois is a full-time job. I will recuse myself of the management responsibility I've had in the business and focus full time on the state of Illinois."

Still, that is a signal he will not fully leave the business behind. The firm has fallen on hard times in recent years, taking losses to the point Brady owed no federal income taxes.

Quinn has also attacked Brady for not paying taxes while Brady said it shows how Illinois businesses have suffered under Democratic leadership.

Brady's running mate is Jason Plummer, a 27-year-old who used his family's wealth to propel his primary campaign. Plummer has never before held state office.

Quinn is living proof a Lieutenant Governor could be moved into the state's top spot. He became Governor after Rod Blagojevich's removal from office. Critics say Plummer is too inexperienced.

"Jason Plummer has a great deal of experience at a family business, not even a small business, a large business, that he has been involved in," Brady said. "He's a member of the Navy, Reserves, and and he's got a great deal of experience. I think his experience puts him in a great position to help lead as Lieutenant Governor of the state and I'm proud to have him on the ticket."

However, Brady said there's "room to adjust" Illinois' method of letting primary voters elect governor and lieutenant governor nominees separately in the primary. Brady did not pick Plummer to share the ticket. Only after the general election do the winners run as a team. Quinn also ran separately from Blagojevich in two primaries.

Other contenders in the gubernatorial race include the Green Party's Rich Whitney, Libertarian Lex Green and independent Scott Lee Cohen.

(Elmhurst College/flcikr)