Some may be merely mulling a run for Illinois governor next year, but William “Dock” Walls says there’s no doubt he’s stepping into the ring.
Some may be merely mulling a run for Illinois governor next year, but William “Dock” Walls says there’s no doubt he’s stepping into the ring.
Walls, who cut his teeth in politics during the late Mayor Harold Washington’s campaign in the early 1980s, told the Defender, “I would drive myself insane” if Gov. Pat Quinn were elected to a full term in 2010. Walls said Quinn is similar to the booted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The community activist and director of the Committee For A Better Chicago organization said the downfall of the former governor earlier this year sparked his yearning to help clean up the state’s tarnished image.
Blagojevich’s December 2008 arrest on corruption and bribery charges, including allegedly trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama, made international headlines.
Blagojevich was impeached in January.
“The scandal left a sour taste in residents’ mouths, and Illinois’ reputation around the world suffered. I just don’t think that Pat Quinn offers anything different,” Walls said, referring to reports earlier this month that a campaign aide to Quinn called several political action committees of the state’s trade associations to inquire if any of its members would host fundraisers during the summer for the governor.
Quinn denied allegations that only donors would have access to him. He said the aide made a mistake by calling committees that hadn’t previously helped, instead of ones that had.
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