Illinois lieutenant governor nominee drops out over scandal

CHICAGO — 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 Sunday at the urging of party leaders.

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

When Cohen became a candidate, he disclosed a 2005
domestic battery charge against him had been dismissed. It was only
after his victory Tuesday 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 Chicago 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.

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.

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