Police investigate reports of shots on the South Side on Friday. | Scott Olson~Getty Images
As expected as violence in Chicago has become, so to have calls for the Illinois National Guard to provide assistance in stemming the problems in the streets. This time, it’s coming from the man who could do something about it: Governor Pat Quinn.
CBS 2 reports the governor said he was open to talking with Mayor Emanuel and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy about providing help to the city from the state police or the Illinois National Guard.
“I think anyone who saw what happened in Cornell Park the other night was horrified by the violence,” Quinn said Saturday. “It is an area that has been inflicted with violence, and we’ve got to protect the people.”
The governor noted that he’s not had any specific conversations on the matter.
He’s not the first governor to broach the matter. Rod Blagojevich raised the idea back in 2008, a less-than-subtle jab at Mayor Daley.
More recently, state Rep. Monique Davis called for Quinn to deploy the National Guard in July.
“It’s almost as if there’s a war going on,” Davis told the Sun-Times.
