ST. LOUIS - Reformer, gadfly, relentless campaigner, showboater. Those are a few descriptions used over the years for Pat Quinn, who became Illinois' lieutenant governor in 2003 after three decades of tilting against the political status quo.

Quinn's next title could be governor if Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat who was arrested Tuesday on corruption charges, resigns or is forced from office.

Kent Redfield, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, suggested Quinn's record indicates that he would focus as governor on ethics legislation, support education spending and be willing to raise taxes if needed.

However, Redfield said, "you really don't know anything about his executive competence or style" in running something as large as Illinois state government.

Quinn, 59, a lawyer from Chicago, was state treasurer for four years in the 1990s and later ran unsuccessfully for secretary of state and U.S. Senate.

He gained widespread statewide notice when he spearheaded a petition drive that led to voter adoption in 1980 of a constitutional amendment reducing the size of the Illinois House.

The amendment also ended cumulative voting, an unusual system in which voters could cast three votes for one legislative candidate or split three votes among two or three candidates.

Quinn went on to push other changes over the years, such as founding a Citizens Utility Board, which lobbies for consumers. Some other efforts were unsuccessful, including a legislative term limits initiative blocked by the state Supreme Court in 1994.

Meanwhile, Quinn's attempts to garner publicity such as holding news conferences on Sunday afternoons when often there is little breaking news have irritated elected officials in both major parties over the years.

"He's been a thorn in the side of what you would call conventional politicians," said James Nowlan, senior fellow at the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs. "Yet, to be fair, he's been consistent in his philosophy of a kind of populism."

When Quinn won the 2002 Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, he automatically became the running mate of Blagojevich

As lieutenant governor, Quinn has promoted consumer causes, environmental issues and support for veterans.

After the two were re-elected in 2006, Quinn split with the governor. Among other things, he helped kill Blagojevich's proposed business tax increase and accused him of being absent in the fight to lower utility rates.

Mike Lawrence, the retired director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, said if Quinn becomes governor he would face a new challenge of working with the Legislature and various groups to try to move the state forward.

"Pat Quinn has largely been an outsider, even though he has been in public office for many years," Lawrence said. "It will be a real test for him to be in a position where he is by definition the consummate insider."

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Bio

NAME: Pat Quinn.

AGE-BIRTH DATE: 59; Dec. 16, 1948.

HOME: Chicago

FAMILY: Divorced, two children

EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree from Georgetown University; law degree from Northwestern University.

EXPERIENCE: Elected lieutenant governor in 2002 and 2006. State treasurer from 1991 to 1995. Served on the Cook County Board of (property tax) Appeals. Helped create the consumer watchdog group Citizens Utility Board and led other petition drives and consumer movements.

SOURCE: Associated Press