By Kevin Lee                         217-528-9604

SPRINGFIELD  — Most lawmakers do not doubt Governor Pat Quinn’s integrity or speechmaking ability.

But they do harbor questions about his vision for the state.

Quinn delivered his State of the State address before the General Assembly and state officials Wednesday afternoon.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers are criticizing Quinn the lack of policies and details he divulged.

State Sen. John Sullivan, D-Quincy, said he would have like to hear more details from Quinn on how he plans on dealing with the state’s budget problems.

“I think that he should have spent a much greater amount of his time laying out the difficulties that we face, possibly talking about some options that we could be looking at, either in cuts or additional revenue or a combination of both,” he said. “I just think there should have been more time spent talking about the budget.”

State Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, said she only got vague notions from Quinn’s speech of what needs to be done.

“We need some guidance and leadership and framework of how to accomplish these things very quickly, to get our economy jump-started, to get jobs,” she said.

Quinn skimmed over the state’s record $13 billion budget deficit and instead focused on legislative and ethics reform accomplishments.

State Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, said the State of the State address was about setting a tone, not solving all of the state’s problems.

“I think the governor talked an awful lot about good things the state of Illinois should be doing with transportation, infrastructure, job creation,” he said. “What I didn’t hear an awful lot of was how we’re going to fund that. Those things are going to cost a lot of money, and I’m hopeful we’ll get a lot more details in the Budget address in March.”

State Rep. David Miller, D-Dolton, praised Quinn’s tone as “somewhat optimistic, not pessimistic.”

State Sen. Toi W. Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, called on elected statewide officials to put aside their politics.

“This is too big for any one party to do it alone. I understand the need for people to sometimes make safe political choices, but if there was ever a time to do what you thought was right for the state over what you thought was safe, [it] is now,” she said.

The state’s budget problems may have to wait a few weeks. Lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Springfield until after the Feb. 2 primary.

Some lawmakers criticized Quinn for using the speech as a chance to stump for votes.

Democratic rival Dan Hynes had a different perspective.

“We’re putting off the problems and we’re patching over problems with more and more borrowing. That’s not politics. That’s basically pointing out the fact that we have a governor who refuses to lead,” he said.