Chicago Sun-Times
SPRINGFIELD — President Obama has appeared to tip his hand on Illinois’ bill to end the death penalty, which Gov. Quinn is expected to act upon within the week.
During an encounter with Quinn at the White House last week, the president praised the governor on the legislation and on Illinois’ legalization of civil unions, said state Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago), a lead legislative backer of the abolition bill and Obama’s successor in the Illinois Senate.
“The governor said Barack had complimented him and the state on our work on civil unions and the death penalty,” Raoul said Friday, recounting a conversation with Quinn following his return last week from a Washington, D.C. trip to attend National Governors Association meetings.
Obama has publicly stated his support for the death penalty in heinous cases but as a state lawmaker voted against expanding the death penalty to crimes arising from gang activity. Obama was a driving force behind a 2003 package of death-penalty reforms that required interrogations be videotaped in capital punishment cases.
How or if the president’s words of praise play into Quinn’s decision-making isn’t entirely clear. The governor had been widely anticipated to take action on the repeal bill Friday but then abruptly postponed doing so.
Quinn met Friday with Raoul and Rep. Karen Yarbrough (D-Maywood), the death penalty bill’s lead House sponsor, at the Thompson Center for an update on deliberations over the death-penalty legislation. Raoul emerged still believing that Quinn will enact the measure.
“I feel fairly confident that he’s going to sign it. My feeling on that has not changed on the basis of our meeting today,” said Raoul, who said the governor “gave us an impression he’d act within the week.”
Neither Quinn’s office nor the White House press office responded to questions about Raoul’s account of the exchange between the president and governor or its potential significance. The matter did not arise during the lawmakers’ meeting with the governor Friday.
At that meeting, the governor did not make clear what his intentions are for the 15 Death Row inmates who are not addressed directly in the repeal legislation. However, when that subject was addressed, Quinn specifically mentioned by name serial killer Brian Dugan, who was sentenced to death in 2009 for the 1983 rape and murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico, of Naperville, Raoul said.
“The consistent sentiment he said over and over was that he’s got to make sure he gives a fair listen to all of the victims he’s heard from and whatever his decision he makes is, it’s a solemn act,” Raoul said. “He wants to be respectful to both sides of the issue when he makes his decision.”
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