ILL-inois: Lame duck Quinn went on spending binge

Chicago Democrat Pat Quinn kept handing out the goodies until just before reform Republican Bruce Rauner was sworn in as governor-so he could lock in these deals.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

After losing in November, Gov. Pat Quinn went on a $404.6 million spending spree during his final two months in office, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.

Quinn’s economic development department raced to dole out 609 state grants to local governments, schools and businesses, according to records his administration filed with the Illinois state comptroller.

The total tab for the grants given out in his final 69 days in office came to about half as much as Quinn handed out during the entire 2013-14 budget year.

Most of the grants had been in the planning stages for months, even years, according to Quinn aides. But his administration didn’t finish and send the paperwork to the comptroller's office to pay any of them until after the Chicago Democrat lost the Nov. 4 election to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Quinn, a self-described populist, is a complete fraud. Illinois voters wised up to his expensive act and they threw the bum out. Good for us.