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Quinn, Emanuel spat now includes sinkholes, project signs

The public tension between Gov. Pat Quinn and Mayor Rahm Emanuel now includes barbs over a Northwest Side sinkhole and politicians putting their names on signs.

Emanuel has been pressuring Quinn to say he'll sign a major gambling expansion into law, and the mayor has said he wants to spend the money to upgrade Chicago's infrastructure. Emanuel has contended that the city cannot keep up with needed infrastructure improvements without money a casino would bring in, noting crumbling roads that led to a massive sinkhole on the city's Far Northwest Side over the weekend.

Today, Quinn said cities must take some responsibility for improvements, particularly when it comes to potholes and sinkholes.

"There is a role for municipalities to pay attention," Quinn said. "We're not going to have a situation where every community in Illinois that wants to fill its sinkholes or potholes wants a casino. I mean, come on."

Quinn also said the mayor is forgetting about millions of dollars the state gives the city each year to pay for road projects, including an overhaul of Lower Wacker Drive.

"They're reviving the drive, and who do you think is paying for it? The state of Illinois is the big investor in that," Quinn said, while also taking a swipe and Emanuel for placing his name on construction signs in the city, a practice Quinn banned at the state level. "My name ain't on that road, and I don't want it to be, but the fact of the matter is we're putting, I think, $300 million into a major endeavor to fix up a thoroughfare in the city of Chicago that needed radical improvement."

For his part, Emanuel today said Chicago's construction needs go far beyond the $1 billion Quinn said the state infrastructure plan has earmarked for Chicago roads, bridges and mass transit.

"It's very simple. I think all of you saw the car that fell through. It's not just a pothole. It's because the pipes and water system in Chicago, parts of Chicago, a hundred years old," Emanuel said. "The capital shortfall at CTA alone is in the multi-billions. That doesn't count what I have to do for the roads, the 25 new schools, the 40 miles of new water infrastructure."

Quinn has faced increasing pressure from Emanuel and others to sign off on the gambling legislation, which has yet to be sent to his desk amid fears he would immediately veto the proposal.

Quinn says he is not opposed to a casino in city limits, but contends the bill is "top heavy" and erodes regulation of the gambling industry.

Sponsors say they want to work with Quinn to develop follow-up legislation to address his concerns and allow him to sign off on the larger package. But Quinn cast doubt on that strategy today, saying lawmakers should send him the legislation as-is so he can act.

"It doesn't work that way, and check the constitution, OK?" Quinn said. "We don't have a prime minister in Illinois, we have a governor, OK? And I'm standing there in the door and I'm happy to accept the bill anytime it arrives. But if they think so little of the handiwork they did on May 31 that they don't want to send it to the governor, shouldn't that alert everyone that maybe there are some defects in that bill that need to be looked at."

"When they send me the bill, they'll get a prompt response, that's how it works," Quinn added.

Quinn stopped short of saying he would veto the legislation.

"I've had to veto bad bills, and sometimes in the veto message I lay out how they can improve their bills," Quinn said.

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