Jack Franks to Enter Pat Quinn Revolving Prison Door Political Scandal

Never let it be said that McHenry County’s State Representative Jack Franks (D-Marengo) doesn’t have a good eye for what will attract media attention.

Think of his four-year fight to get cheaper prescription drugs for seniors.

Think of his many attacks on and early call for Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment after Franks’ initial attempt to get relatives and supporters appointed to various positions and Blagojevich’s release thereafter of that memo and a letter of support for licensing the Crystal Lake Mercy Hospital when the Stuart Levine scandal broke.

Now Franks has decided to take on another story with “legs,” as the media folks would say:

Pat Quinn’s botching of early release of prisoners

How many legs?

I think it dooms Quinn’s election chances in the fall, if not the primary.

Here are a week’s Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune editorials on the subject (click to enlarge).

And, take a look at what is on page 2 of the Chicago Sun-Times today.  Obviously there is plenty of potential publicity out there.

Jack doesn’t talk to me anymore at anything but public events, so let me offer my advice here.

Mruder-Related Convicts Released Early

Call Bill Bradly as your first witness.According to a WBBM-Radio story yesterday, the Republican state senator and candidate for the Republican Party nomination for governor has first-hand information from the Department of Corrections Director that Quinn made the decision about early release.

By putting Brady first, you would be providing some cover to what might be the real reason for your interest in this issue, getting State Comptroller Dan Hynes. (Pardon me if I think you are supporting him based on nothing more than the signs for Hynes that appear heavily in the Marengo area in his previous runs for office. If you are supporting Quinn, I would be happy to relay that information to McHenry County Blog readers.)

From the photos of “murder-related convicts released early” found on page 3 of today’s Sun-Times, there is a lot of potential.

At some point, someone might also want to look at sex offenders who were nnot released early under Governor George Ryan. Sometime after the Democrats took control, they started getting to use their “good time” to get out earlier.

Already Hynes is running his version of the Willie Horton ad on TV.

Hostile hearings chaired by Franks would have a re-enforcing effect.


Comments

Jack Franks to Enter Pat Quinn Revolving Prison Door Political Scandal — 1 Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *