Quotes from the week in Illinois and Chicago politics: Aug. 16, 2013

“There may be blurred lines for congressmen to follow when their lives are political. This case did not come near those areas.”

“The message has not been subtle. The pleadings have laid this on very, very thick. . . . . It is not the court that put your children in this position. It is not the government that put your children in this position.”

—U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. and his wife, former Chicago Ald. Sandi Jackson. Her strong words led some to think she would sentence the couple to more time than the 30 months received by Jesse and the 12 months received by Sandi.

“I respect Pat Quinn. He’s a decent guy, and as has been stated before, he’s a heck of a White Sox fan. . . . But just like the White Sox, we will not win if we do not make change.”

—Gubernatorial candidate Bill Daley on Wednesday at the Illinois State Fair. With Lisa Madigan out, the governor’s race is boring enough as it is — must we be forced to swallow lame, faux-folksy references to Chicago’s baseball teams?

“In the last three slate-making sessions, the Cook County Democratic Party has backed Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn, and when you look at all the assets of incumbency Governor Quinn is now spreading around, we don’t see any reason why that would change, no matter how failed Governor Quinn’s record is.”

—Daley spokesman Pete Giangreco on the decision not to seek the CCDP’s endorsement.

“If changes are being looked at, don’t try to lump us in with Metra and the RTA and everybody else because we have an accountability structure directly to the voters. . . . Everyone knows where the buck stops at the CTA. It’s called the mayor — Mayor Emanuel.”

—CTA President Forrest Claypool, arguing that a transit shakeup should leave out his agency. It has enough to worry about anyway with the confusing Ventra card rollout and a $10.1 million budget deficit thanks to lower-than-expected fare revenue this year.

“We have no reason to believe and have no knowledge of any such wrongdoing during his tenure in Chicago.”

—Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s communications director Sarah Hamilton on ex-city comptroller Amer Ahmad’s indictment on money laundering and bribery charges related to his previous job in Ohio. We’ll see. The mayor plans to order an audit of Ahmad’s work.