Quinn says he deserves better than C grade on jobs

CHICAGO (AP) – Pat Quinn deserves a passing C or C+ grade on job-creation policies as governor, but his administration must do more to improve the business climate and burnish the state’s image to woo would-be investors away from other states, a key business leader said Monday.

Illinois Chamber of Commerce president Doug Whitley made the comments as he launched a two-day, statewide tour to highlight obstacles he says stymie growth and thwart attempts to reduce a state jobless rate that’s hovered stubbornly around 10 percent. The national unemployment rate is closer to 8 percent.

The head of the 3,500-member chamber singled out Peoria-based Caterpillar’s recent decision to open a new manufacturing plant that will employ 1,400 workers, not in the heavy equipment maker’s home state but in Georgia.

“The next time Caterpillar thinks about locating a plant, we at least want Illinois in the running,” Whitley said in a telephone interview from Aurora, the first stop on his tour. “The fact some of these companies don’t even consider Illinois – that’s got to change.”

Asked later Monday to respond to Whitley’s less-than-stellar jobs grade, Quinn said he deserved better. At least one group, the United Auto Workers, would give him an A for helping to persuade Chrysler recently to add 1,800 workers at its Belvidere plant, he said.

“We work every day on that issue (jobs) and it is the most important issue we have in Illinois,” he said.

If Illinois fails to get its economic house in order, Whitley said, there’s a real danger of losing businesses to states with more business-friendly reputations, like Indiana.

Illinois’ own reputation has suffered both from the unpredictability of its economic policy over the past decade and from a series of high-profile corruption scandals, illustrated most recently by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s multiple corruption convictions.

“Every year there is talk about raising the corporate tax, or there’s another governor going off to prison,” he said. “People don’t think about job creation (when they think Illinois); they think about corrupt governors.”

The chamber is voicing its views as Quinn prepares to deliver his much-anticipated budget proposal Wednesday. Quinn has cut spending and raised taxes, but Illinois remains in dire financial shape – in large part because of yawning health and pension costs.