Senator Bill Brady is asking Governor Pat Quinn to attend a hearing December 22 to explain why he supports plans to sell Thomson Correctional Center to the federal government for use as a facility for housing suspected terrorists.

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability will meet at 2:00 p.m., December 22 at the High School Centennial Auditorium in Sterling. A tentative agenda for the meeting indicates that Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael P. Randle and the Governor’s Chief Operating Officer Jack Lavin will attend, as well as United States Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin, and U.S. Department of Defense / Office of Detainee Policy Principal Director Alan Liotta.

“With an issue of this magnitude being considered for our state, Governor Pat Quinn should attend the meeting and explain to the citizens of Illinois why he and other Democrat colleagues are pushing so hard to sell this facility to the federal government, for use in housing suspected terrorists,” Senator Brady said. “This is an issue that is being jammed through, with little attention given to the concerns of other lawmakers and citizens. It is being presented to us as an accomplished fact, but we have a number of questions that deserve answers.

“Selling a prison in northwestern Illinois should not be a decision that one person has the authority to make unilaterally. We suffered through this kind of high-handed behavior with the former Governor – trying to close prisons in Vandalia and Pontiac, or trying to move large state departments from one town to another,” Senator Brady said. “I am pleased we were able to bring this issue before the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, as required by state law. But this issue seems to have a momentum of its own, and the concerns of quite a number of people are being ignored. The Governor owes us some answers."

 (READ SENATOR BRADY'S LETTER TO GOVERNOR PAT QUINN)