Gov. Pat Quinn faces big expectations over how he'll address Illinois' disastrous finances when he delivers his State of the State speech, but he's hinting he'll also spend time reminding the public how the state's image has been cleaned up under his watch.

Wednesday's speech will set the tone for the year ahead of a later budget address.

But this is also Quinn's best chance to boast of accomplishments and he's yet to succeed at forging compromise on pension reform as he did with helping restore Illinois' reputation as two predecessors went to prison.

Focusing on ethics more than finances will be tricky for Quinn.

Illinois has the nation's worst pension problem and Quinn's under pressure to show progress with Republicans and Democrats eyeing his seat for the 2014 election.