The Illinois Tea Party became ebullient in a climate that could finally witness the paring back of Illinois’ bloated bureaucracy. Not to be outdone the public service unions descend on Springfield in April of 2010 in a well-organized and perhaps the largest rally since the Civil Rights movement. The official chant of the rally was “Raise my taxes!”, with prefabricated placards and signage on display. In a message of hypocrisy Henry Bayer, executive director of Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees states, "Yes, people are hurting. That's why we need a tax increase."
With elections looming large Republicans began a campaign of reducing taxes and cutting statewide programs. Republican candidate Adam Andrzejewski a Tea Party favorite called for a forensic audit of the state’s budget which he claimed could reduce redundancy in statewide programs thereby saving the state billions in wasted taxpayer dollars.
With Quinn polling badly and trailing behind virtually every Republican candidate the Governor decided to back off his demand to raise state income taxes. In hotly contested gubernatorial primaries in both the Republican and Democratic races the winners Quinn (D) and Brady (R) are set to square off in November. From the beginning of the final sprint to Springfield, Quinn is trailing Brady in all polls with Brady capturing coveted endorsements from both the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times. A Republican win appears a “shoe in” throughout the race until late August of 2010.
Scott Lee Cohen having won the Democratic Primary for Lt. Governor was to be Quinn’s running mate until days after the primaries embarrassing revelations about Cohen’s past steroid abuse and assault charges from a former girlfriend are revealed. Quinn and the Illinois Democrats force Cohen’s resignation viewing him as a liability to the campaign against much to his displeasure. In his place Sheila Simon daughter of well respect past Senator Paul Simon is selected to fill the ticket. Once more Democrats usurp the democratic process by appointing a Lt. Gubernatorial candidate instead of electing one. This pair, Quinn and Simon the Democrats believe will be unstoppable.
Still Quinn trails in the polls by as much as ten points, that is until late August 2010, enter Scott Lee Cohen largely forgotten by the voters and ignored by the media he announces his independent candidacy for Governor of Illinois. Cohen out spends Quinn and Brady combined in the months preceding November gaining name recognition and valuable media attention. Cohen campaigns as the "True" Independent not tied to either political party. Signage for Cohen begin appearing on street corners, along highways and every imaginable public venue almost overnight in the month before the election with a radio and television media blitz that overshadows the other candidates.
Let’s look further back, without an organization or supporters Cohen manages to get a position on the ballot filing his petition as independent in June of 2010 with entirely hired petitioners. Chicagoans recruited on the street were sent out with no training or instruction and told to stand outside the State of Illinois Building and a South Loop pawn shop owned by Cohen's brother, Randy Cohen, according to interviews with petitioners. They're getting paid $1 per valid signature; "A person on the street gave [the job] to me," said Luther Riddle, who said he didn't know what Cohen stands for or why he is running. What he did know was how much training he'd received. "None," he said. "I ain't met the person yet."
Citizens for Scott Lee Cohen was created January 23, 2009 as a Democratic committee to support Scott Lee Cohen for public office. Chairman and Co-chairmen are Jeff Cohen and Scott Shapiro respectively, both registered Democrats in Cook County, Illinois. Karen L. Reisman is listed as Treasurer and registered Democrat in Lake County Illinois who would have been responsible for filing of D2’s as no amendment to the D1 submitted by her was ever filed.
According to D2’s filed by the Cohen campaign $2,128,550.13 came from loans by Scott Lee Cohen with the balance coming from individual Democrats from both the public and private sector. With such a sizable campaign war chest Scott Lee Cohen was able to purchase the exposure in the weeks leading up to November 2nd, 2010. Though not successful in his bid for the Governorship, the Cohen campaign turned the tide for Pat Quinn; finally winning over Brady by the slim margin of 31,834 votes, a margin of less than 2%.
Final vote tallies for the 2010 Gubernatorial Election:
Quinn 1,745,219 Democrat Party
Brady 1,713,385 Republican Party
Cohen 135,705 Independent
Whitney 100,756 Green Party
Green 34,681 Libertarian Party
Other(s) 243 No Party Affiliation
Two lessons can be learned from the 2010 Governor’s race. First third Party candidates never win often becoming spoilers of the legitimate candidate’s campaign; in this instance 1,985,770 votes were cast against Pat Quinn, a clear majority of Illinois' voters. In the anti-incumbency climate of the 2010 election cycle the independent candidate most likely siphoned off votes from the Republican Bill Brady who stood a real chance of winning until Cohen entered the race as an Independent.
Second, even if the DNC did not have a hand in the Brady upset Democrats surely did, Pat Quinn owes Scott Lee Cohen and Democrat contributors to the Cohen campaign a huge debt of gratitude in his election win. Thanks to Cohen the democratic process has not been served which will cost Illinoisans dearly over the next four years. Illinois’ new motto could be “California and Bust”.
By Michael-IL
TH.Michael.IL@gmail.com
Typo 2010 not 1020
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