Pubdate: Sat, 31 Jan 2015
Source: Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
Copyright: 2015 Sun-Times Media, LLC
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/5QwXAJWY
Website: http://www.suntimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/81
Author: Stefano Esposito

RAUNER: QUINN LEFT BEHIND MEDICAL MARIJUANA ' MESS'

At the groundbreaking for a charter school in Chicago's Austin 
neighborhood, Gov. Bruce Rauner slammed his predecessor, saying Pat 
Quinn has left him plenty of work to do.

Asked about how he plans to deal with Illinois' new medical marijuana 
law, he described it as a "mess" that Quinn had created and "then ran 
away from."

After weeks of anticipation- and in a move that appeared to leave 
many of his staff surprised and embarrassed - Quinn left office 
without issuing any licenses to grow or sell medical marijuana in Illinois.

"We owe a duty to the taxpayers and the families of this state to 
check the process and make sure it's been done right, according to 
the law," Rauner told reporters.

Rauner went on to say: "So we're doing a review right now. We're 
going to do it on a timely basis, and in the coming days we'll be 
announcing what conclusions we've reached and how best to proceed in 
the process from here."

Rauner was similarly critical of the budget he inherited from Quinn.

"What Gov. Quinn did was make up some numbers for different 
departments to get through the election," Rauner said.

That, Rauner said, was "fundamentally dishonest," adding, "It's 
actually unconstitutional what he did, but he did it."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom