Illinois Democratic Party Lt. Governor Nominee Scott Lee Cohen Drops Out

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Yet another scandal has rocked the Democratic Party in Illinois. Illinois Democratic Party Lt. Governor Nominee Scott Lee Cohen dropped out of the race on February 7, 2010 just 5 days after the primary election in which he won a surprising 26.0% of the vote. Scott Lee Cohen spent $3 million of his own funds during the campaign to help get himself the primary victory. However the Chicago Pawnbroker had several scandals that emerged during and after the primary and led to his dropping out. Cohen was arrested for domestic abuse in 2005 against an ex-girlfriend who also happened to be an ex-prostitute. The girlfriend claimed that Cohen held a knife to her neck but the charges against Cohen were later dropped. Cohen's ex-wife also filed a temporary order of protection against Cohen but later she would not talk in public about the incident when questioned about it during a TV interview, as for Cohen he blamed the incident on steroid use. ####### Durbin and several other leading Democrats in Illinois asked Scott Lee Cohen to step aside during the Democratic primary. Cohen refused to give up and continued to campaign for Lt. Governor winning the nomination despite the lack of support among Democratic Party leaders in Illinois. Due to the fact that Cohen dropped out of the race after the primary election that the nomination will now be hand picked by the Democratic party. If Cohen had done the honorable thing and withdrew prior to the Democratic primary then the Democratic party would already have a nominee for Lt. Governor. Despite all of this Scott Lee Cohen is now talking about a possible independent bid for Lt. Governor but the citizens of Illinois will have to decide about that.

http://www.examiner.com/x-38521-Springfiel...Cohen-Drops-Out

[scandal 951]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=3689907

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=3689907

I thought you might have heard something about it!

[scandal 951]

I thought you might have heard something about it!

I broke my political chops in Canada, which is pretty bland except for the Quebec separatist issue. I've since lived in Israel which has pretty bizarre politics, and in California - well, I don't need to tell you about that. Now Illinois. God I love this state It's a dream come true for political backroom chicanery gone wild. They should give us an award or something.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I broke my political chops in Canada, which is pretty bland except for the Quebec separatist issue. I've since lived in Israel which has pretty bizarre politics, and in California - well, I don't need to tell you about that. Now Illinois. God I love this state It's a dream come true for political backroom chicanery gone wild. They should give us an award or something.

Did you see Stephen Colbert with the occupant of the Illinois 5th District for Northern Chicago? Is that "normal" for the area?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/11/m...h_n_458334.html

[scandal 951]

Did you see Stephen Colbert with the occupant of the Illinois 5th District for Northern Chicago? Is that "normal" for the area?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/11/m...h_n_458334.html

No I didn't see the Colbert Report, but I did read about it in Eric Zorn's column in the Chicago Tribune. Sounds like he did ok.

Eric Zorn Change of Subject

February 14, 2010

I cringed Wednesday night when Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert announced that freshman U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Chicago, would be his guest on that night's prerecorded "Better Know a District" segment.

Colbert's character is a blunt, occasionally clueless right-wing gasbag, and in "Better Know a District" he conducts interviews filled with curveball questions designed to make members of Congress the butt of his jokes. The risk of looking foolish is so high that three years ago, Quigley's predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, now White House chief of staff, famously advised his Democratic colleagues to decline invitations to appear on "The Colbert Report."

But Quigley, who represents my Northwest Side district, said he watches "The Colbert Report," appreciates its use of humor to address serious issues and figured that he'd seen so much goofiness in his 10 years as a member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners that Colbert wouldn't throw him.

The interview was recorded Jan. 22 in Quigley's Washington, D.C., "office," which was actually the House Judiciary Committee meeting room decorated with Chicago and Quigley family artifacts, Quigley said. It lasted about two hours and the mood was light.

But Quigley knew that Colbert would distill the conversation into about five minutes and so he was appropriately nervous when the segment aired.

He needn't have been. Though Colbert had fun with Quigley — asking him, in light of the fact that Dan Rostenkowski and Rod Blagojevich had once held his seat, whether he'd yet picked out the federal prison where he wants to serve his time, for instance — and made him appear addled during an attempt at improv comedy, Colbert's editors left on the cutting room floor the portion of their chat where they spoke with Chicago-style hot dogs in their mouths and where Quigley held a "Blagojevich wig" to his head.

Quigley even got a laugh, responding to one of Colbert's stranger pronouncements, "You have a point. It's not a good point, but you have a point."

And, wisely, he refused Colbert's invitation to sing "Sweet Home Chicago" for the cameras.