At a luncheon Feb. 13 at the Rainbow/PUSH headquarters in Hyde Park, Rev. Jesse Jackson offered Governor Pat Quinn congratulations, good wishes, and words of advice on Quinn's new job. Jackson said that Quinn had come to his position by "predicament"—the removal of former governor Rod Blagojevich on charges of corruption—but affirmed that other important political figures, notably Lyndon Johnson, had come to power "by chance," too.
Rev. Gregory Livingston, who welcomed the crowd of roughly 100 and introduced the speakers, hailed the event as Quinn's "first major outing with clergy, business people, and community members" since assuming the governorship. Following remarks by Rev. Calvin Morris and State Senator Rev. James Meeks, Jesse Jackson asked Quinn to address three major problems facing Illinois: poverty, access to economic stimulus money, and education.
Pointing to poverty, the drug trade and growing unemployment, Jackson described a "multiracial, multicultural crisis." Jackson demanded government transparency in spending the stimulus money—complaining specifically of Mayor Richard Daley's refusal to release a list of projects he plans to fund with the money the city receives—and proposed that student loans be structured with low interest rates similar to those offered banks under recent economic recovery measures.
Quinn, in a brief speech, said that poor people, and not just banks, need immediate economic aid as well. "We're going to be a lobbyist for them," Quinn said, "a political action committee for those who don't have those connections." Quinn promised to make sure that the stimulus money flows in the "proper directions" and proposed infrastructure-building jobs to inject money into communities.
"If you're able-bodied and you're breathing," he said, "we want you working."
Quinn said that education was vital to greater economic success, pledging to increase computer literacy among grade school and high school students. Bemoaning a system in which tax breaks are more easily accessible "to those raising thoroughbred horses than those raising children," he challenged government, as well as banks receiving bailout money, to give back in the form of scholarships and education funding.
Tying education to economic productivity, Quinn said, "Jobs follow brain power."