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Vallas say he's not running for gov
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| Contributor | ev |
| Last Edited | ev Nov 06, 2008 01:00am |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Chicago Sun-Times |
| News Date | Monday, November 3, 2008 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Vallas say he's not running for gov
NOT IN 2010 | To run New Orleans schools another year to 'finish what I started'
November 3, 2008
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter
Saying he still has work to do to improve New Orleans schools, Paul Vallas said Sunday he won't run for governor of Illinois in 2010.
Vallas, who was the first Chicago Public Schools CEO, is a major player in education. He heads the New Orleans school system and used to run Philadelphia schools.
But he has also been a continual object of fascination to Illinois politicians and pundits who wonder whether he'll run again for governor. He lost the Democratic primary to Rod Blagojevich in 2002.
There has even been speculation Vallas might switch to the GOP or run for Cook County Board president.
Last year, he moved his family to Palos Heights, "right across the street from my in-laws," he said. He commutes to New Orleans.
He appeared at a news conference Sunday with Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to push the state Constitutional Convention referendum, which is on Tuesday's ballot, saying it would help education-funding reform and pruning of 7,000 units of local government.
"In a million years, the Illinois legislators and Gov. Blagojevich are not going to reform themselves," Quinn said.
But questions focused on Vallas' plans.
"I won't be running for governor," he said.
He planned to leave New Orleans in June, but officials there asked him to stay another year, "so that would preclude a run for governor" in 2010, he said. Extending his contract makes it impossible to do the fund-raising necessary to mount a campaign, he said.
"I'd like to finish what I started" in Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, he said.
He laughed off questions about running for county board president or other posts. "I'm not going to say I'm never going to run for anything again,'' he said. |
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