Terry Link the defeated Lt Gov candidate embarasses Governor

[WT Reader]

I have heard in the past several days where State Senator Terry Link who was defeated in his bid to become the Lt. Govenor of Illinios (placed fourth
out of four candidates running) ... has told various media outlets that he warned the Quinn for Governor Campaign that the Scott Lee Cohen
had a lot of baggage and was not fit to be Lt. Governor.

Governor Quinn immediately denied Link's assertions, and seemed quite annoyed and distressed by Link's public comments all over Illinois media.

Of course, what do you expect? Link embarassed the Governor by coming out in public making such assertions that the Governor "should have known."

Also, I have heard discussed by many political commentators about Link's assertions that he told the Governor's staff about Cohen that "why would Link just tell Quinn's campaign all of this? This just does not make any sense." After all, Link was running for Lt. Governor, too...if he knew so much, why didn't Link release what he knew about Cohen prior to Feb 2nd? Why didn't Link make it a campaign issue as Link was running against Cohen, too ??

All of Cohen's peccadilloes would have been great fodder for Link to use against Cohen, so political commmentators just can't figure Link out...why Link would not go directly to the Governor with such info, and why Link would not use the sordid info he claims he knew about Cohen to further Link's own campaign for Lt. Governor??

Rather, all Link did was embarass the Governor by telling all the media "I told the Governor's people about Cohen and they did not respond."

Go figure, no one else can....unless it is Link's way of "hitting back" at Quinn for not supporting Link for Lt. Governor.

[fedupinwaukegan]

Well he's out...



Cohen drops out of lt. gov. race
February 7, 2010 7:13 PM | 1 Comment | BREAKING STORY

Scott Lee Cohen, the pawnbroker whose surprise victory in last week's Democratic lieutenant governor primary was followed by scandalous revelations about him, quit the race tonight at the urging of party leaders.

Cohen made the tearful announcement at the Hop Haus tavern on the Far North Side.

"For the good of the people ...I will resign," he said, adding: "The last thing I ever, ever wanted to do was to put the people of Illinois in jeopardy in any way."

When Cohen became a candidate, he disclosed that a 2005 domestic battery charge against him had been dismissed. It was only after his victory Tuesday that the details became known: His girlfriend at the time, a prostitute, had accused him of holding a knife to her throat but had failed to appear in court, leading to charges being dropped.

More revelations followed last week: Cohen admitted injecting anabolic steroids, was accused of failing to pay child support even while he put at least $2 million into his campaign, and was identified as the target of dozens of lawsuits over back taxes.

The Tribune reported on its Web site Sunday afternoon that powerful Illinois House speaker and Democratic chairman Michael Madigan met with Cohen on Friday and urged him in a "very direct and very frank" way to drop his candidacy, according to Madigan aide Steve Brown.

Brown said he was unable to characterize Cohen's response to Madigan during the meeting in Madigan's Chicago law office. He said the meeting had previously been kept under wraps to avoid the appearance of backing Cohen into a corner.

But Brown said he believed the meeting should be publicized after Madigan was criticized for failing to do background checks on the candidates for lieutenant governor, including Cohen.

Brown said candidates do receive some form of vetting when the Democratic Party decides to slate, or endorse, candidates in the primary. But Democrats opted not to slate a candidate for lieutenant governor when none of the contenders was going to receive 60 percent of the weighted vote of the party's leadership, the Democratic State Central Committee, Brown said.

The lieutenant governor field was dominated by Democratic members of the legislature, making slating difficult. State Rep. Art Turner of Chicago, a member of Madigan's leadership team, was endorsed by the speaker. Others in the race were state Rep. Mike Boland of East Moline and state Sens. Terry Link of Waukegan and Rickey Hendon of Chicago. Thomas Castillo of Elmhurst also was a candidate.

During a face-to-face meeting with Cohen, the winner of the lieutenant governor nomination over five rivals in Tuesday's Democratic primary, Madigan was "very direct and very frank with the man" about getting out of the race, Brown said.

Among the other Democrats calling for Cohen to step down or seriously consider doing so were Gov. Pat Quinn, Sen. Dick Durbin and Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias.

--Rick Pearson and Kristen Schorsch

[WT Reader]

WHOA, FedUp!

Hadn't heard this news yet, just broke an hour ago ??

MAN, you are on top of the news, gr8 job, Fed !

Gotta go and check this out myself, thanx for the heads UP,
totally ACE

[fedupinwaukegan]

Hynes mentioned as Illinois Lt. Governor possibility; Turner, Link interested
By
Lynn Sweet
on February 8, 2010 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

By Dave McKinney
Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief

Scott Lee Cohen's surprise decision to end his pursuit of the lieutenant governor's office has created a vacuum at the top of the Democratic ticket, breathing new life into the losing candidacies of his rivals and an array of others.

Some in the Democratic Party would regard a Pat Quinn-Dan Hynes ticket as a salve that would quickly heal a party that was ripped apart by their contentious primary battle.

But Quinn and the three-term comptroller, who narrowly lost to the governor, would have to put aside their bad blood before such a Democratic dream team might be viable.

A source in the Hynes camp told the Sun-Times the comptroller isn't pursuing the opening but would consider it if asked.

"He'll do whatever he can to help the Democratic Party this fall," the source said.

Second-place finisher Art Turner, a West Side state representative, said Sunday he wants to be a contender. He was House Speaker Michael Madigan's endorsed candidate. Other names kicked around included the four others in the primary: Sen. Rickey Hendon (D-Chicago), Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan), Rep. Mike Boland (D-East Moline) and electrician Thomas Castillo.

Link said he could offer more regional balance to the ticket and help attract collar county votes.

"I'm not lobbying, I'm not pushing for it, but am I still interested? Yeah," Link said Sunday night.

Former Deputy Treasurer Raja Kirhsnamoorthi, who narrowly lost the primary election for state comptroller, reportedly would be interested in joining the ticket to add ethnic and regional (he was raised in Peoria) balance.

Also discussed was Veterans Affairs official Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Wilmette), who just lost a primary for Congress.

The Democratic State Central Committee will choose Cohen's replacement. The group is to meet March 15 or earlier.