Posted by John Byrne at 2:55 p.m.
Gov. Pat Quinn joined with Rev. Jesse Jackson today as he continues to push back against opponent Dan Hynes’ campaign ad featuring decades-old footage of the late Mayor Harold Washington ripping Quinn.
The governor urged voters to reject "divisiveness" during an appearance at Operation PUSH with Jackson and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. It echoed remarks Quinn made Friday night, when he accused Hynes of trying to "sow the seeds of racial divide."
The commercial shows a 1987 interview by Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor, calling Quinn "completely undisciplined" and expressing regret for appointing Quinn as the city’s revenue director.
Quinn noted the irony of Hynes — whose father, then-Cook County Assessor Thomas Hynes, mounted a third-party challenge in 1987 against Washington for mayor during a racially tense time in the city’s political history — now invoking Washington to bolster his governor campaign.
"I was very disturbed to see the Hynes family leave the Democratic Party, start a third party, to try to unseat and destroy Harold Washington, to take him out of office," Quinn said, flanked by the Jacksons.
Jackson Jr. urged African-American voters to keep in mind Quinn’s decades of work to improve working conditions and living conditions in the black community in Illinois.
Hynes’ campaign commercial is an effort to get black voters to sit out the race, the congressman said, and that could turn into a "nuclear strategy" that hurts candidates who would best represent blacks up and down the Democratic ticket.
"When a candidate fears he cannot win the black vote, he tries to convince black voters to stay home and not vote," Jackson Jr. said. "Don’t be fooled. Don’t be bamboozled. Don’t be hoodwinked. Don’t be confused, and don’t forget the past. And don’t stay home on election day."
Speaking from the stage at PUSH’s weekly Saturday morning forum, Rev. Jackson called on Quinn to concentrate on governing and push past the political mud being slung. Though he didn’t mention Hynes by name, Jackson reminded the crowd that during Washington’s time in office, some politicians in Chicago started third parties and abandoned "Democratic Party loyalty."
Hynes spokesman Matt McGrath has said Quinn "still doesn’t get it."
"This
race isn’t about Tom Hynes, and it’s not about what Dan Hynes was up to
as an 18-year-old college freshman," McGrath said. "The reason Mayor
Harold Washington’s words resonate so much today is that his firsthand
experience with Pat Quinn is so eerily similar to Illinois’ experience
with him as governor. Mayor Washington had to fire Quinn for his lack
of discipline, lack of planning, and incompetent management. Now the
voters of Illinois are facing the same situation, and they ought to
follow suit," McGrath said.