McCotter's New Job

On the heels of at least one murder and 50 parolees headed back to jail, Governor Quinn is changing direction so fast, he may have left his teeth behind:

• As his primary election rival poured on the criticism over the state's early release of prison inmates, Gov. Pat Quinn tried to dampen the issue Wednesday by appointing a longtime Chicago police officer to oversee release programs.
  
  Quinn appointed Michael McCotter as chief public safety officer at the Illinois Department of Corrections, a position he announced last week after halting a program that let convicts out of prison extra early by awarding them good-time credit at an accelerated pace. McCotter, who had just announced his retirement from the Chicago Police Department, held several top posts over a nearly 40-year career.
  
  Part of his job will be to "bird-dog each and every one of these inmates with respect to early release," Quinn said.

One would imagine that instead of having to "bird-dog" all these applications, the governor and legislature would just make sure people sentenced to 6 years serve, in fact, 6 years. Or maybe 10 years actually means 10 years. But that would be too simple.

In any event, speculation is rife as to whom will succeed McCotter. His retirement papers are dated for February.