Quinn expects action 'rather quickly': Optimistic U.S. Rep. Hare predicts sale in 3 or 4 weeks
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Related:Bivins urges caution, wants Illinois to get best deal possible
Candidates flocking to Thomson, prison
CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn said Monday that he expects swift action on a proposal to sell a northwestern Illinois prison to the federal government to house Guantanamo Bay detainees, while a leading Republican critic, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, moderated his rhetoric on the issue.
U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, who toured the facility Saturday with fellow legislators and federal officials, said he expects a decision within a month.
Kirk, who last week said “we should not invite al-Qaida to make Illinois its No. 1 target,” said Monday he wants a “dispassionate and specific” discussion about any proposal to sell the Thomson Correctional Center. But he still sees it as an “unnecessary risk.”
“But then I’m practical, I’m from the Midwest and I understand when a deal has been cut. So then the question is,If we are to move forward, then how do we move forward?” Kirk told reporters in Chicago.
Kirk and other Republican members of Congress from Illinois, including U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, have a detailed list of questions they want answered by Quinn and the Obama administration that include: Where would trials for the detainees be held? And would detainees leave prison for local hospitals to get medical care?
Kirk, who is running for President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat, and other Republicans have been accused of fear-mongering in their attacks against a proposal to move detainees to the 1,600-bed maximum-security prison that has been nearly vacant since it was built by the state in 2001.
Thomson, which now houses only 200 minimum-security inmates, is the latest location to be considered as the Obama administration looks for a place to move the detainees. Obama wants to close the military-run detention center in Cuba.
Hare takes issue with those who say housing the suspected terrorists in Thomson would pose a national security risk.
“I don’t subscribe to this whole fear factor,” he said Monday.
The prison would be the most secure maximum-security penitentiary in the country when it’s ready to go, he said.
“It’s an incredible building. No one is getting out of there who goes in there. Nobody is coming out of there unless they’re escorted out. Nobody is going in unless they’re escorted in.
“I understand the need to be cautious,” he added, but those raising the alarm “haven’t spent 5 seconds being briefed or going through the installation.”
The second-term congressman said that he is “cautiously optimistic” about the sale, and that he expects the Bureau of Prisons to make a decision within 3 to 4 weeks.
Hare also is excited about the sale’s potential economic impact on northwestern Illinois, including Whiteside and Rock Island counties, which are a part of his district.
The federal government estimates that up to 3,800 jobs and $1 billion could come to the area in the first 4 years. “These are long-term, sustainable jobs with pensions,” Hare said.
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Geneva, who has taken heat from Republican rivals for keeping his Thomson cards close to his vest, is still gathering input from his constituents in the 14th District, which includes Lee and parts of Whiteside counties, he said in an e-mail to Sauk Valley Newspapers Monday.
“This is an important issue with implications for national security, the legal status of the proceedings against the detainees, and the impact on Illinois and the surrounding communities,” Foster wrote.
“It appears that at least some of those who are most directly affected are in favor of the proposal, primarily due to the high security of the facility and the potential for job creation. “
Foster, a scientist by trade, said he wants to gather more information before giving Quinn, senators and the Obama administration “my opinions on how we should proceed.”
Saturday’s tour was the second that federal officials have taken of the prison in a week. Quinn said that it’s a good sign they have taken such a close look at the prison, and that they have been “very impressed.”
“I think this will move along rather quickly,” Quinn said.
A spokeswoman for the federal Bureau of Prisons said she did not have a timeline for the administration’s decision.
SVN reporters Joe Bustos and Tara Becker contributed to this report.
