"I have no communications with the governor. I don't have the faintest idea as to what's going through his mind," Quinn said.
But the media questions to Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn quickly turned to the issue of the governor scandal and the empty Senate seat that was allegedly up for sale.
"I don't think the people of Illinois, 13 million people, the fifth largest state in the union, should go without full representation in the US Senate," said Quinn.
Immediately after governor Blagojevich's corruption charges were announced, Lieutenant Governor Quinn wanted a special election to replace President-elect Obama's Senate seat. Then Quinn said a senator should be appointed by him if Blagojevich was removed from office.
Now Quinn wants a special Senate election only after a temporary appointment.
"So we have two senators on day one when they reconvene. There are going to be decisions in our country made by the United States Senate that will affect us for the rest of our lives," Quinn said.
Quinn says, without a temporary appointment, Illinois could be without representation for several months. He says under no circumstances will he appoint himself.
"The central problem we have right now is that Governor Blagojevich remains in office," said Quinn.
Quinn raised other concerns, saying while Blagojevich is still in power, the state can't get lines of credit desperately needed to pay Medicare claims.
"We will not be able to fully move our state government forward at a very difficult economic time," Quinn said.
Quinn also separated himself from Blagojevich, reminding critics that the lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor. He also said that in 2006 Blagojevich himself announced that Quinn was not part of his administration.
