#rsrh Illinois Dems assign Lt. Gov nomination to Sheila Simon.

You probably didn’t hear about this at the time…

Illinois Democratic leaders gave the nomination for lieutenant governor Saturday to Sheila Simon, daughter of an Illinois political icon, following the wishes of Gov. Pat Quinn despite warnings of a potential backlash from black voters.

[snip]

The Democratic State Central Committee was forced to pick a nominee because the winner of the February primary election, Scott Lee Cohen, dropped out over accusations of past steroid use, failure to pay child support and holding a knife to his girlfriend’s throat – accusations which he denied.

The committee passed over state Rep. Art Turner, a black legislator from Chicago who finished second in the primary. Some of his supporters had warned that rejecting Turner for someone who didn’t even run in the primary could sour black voters on Quinn.

Because, well, the Democratic party of Illinois decided to replace a knife-wielding, steroid-using, deadbeat dad with a white former city councilwoman with a famous name, and not the African-American state legislator who came in second in the first place.  That’s… all kind of awkward; which makes it a perfect fit for Illinois Democrats these days.  Embracing the Awkward is all the rage for those guys.

Moe Lane

PS: Just in passing: the Scott Lee Cohen situation is probably why Alexi Giannoulias has not yet been pressured to leave the race over the entire “20 million dollar loan to bookies and pimps” thing.  They’ve already had one yank-and-replace; having two would lead people to ask why Chicago Democrats even bother with primaries.

Well, more people.  And the choice of adjective modifying ‘Democrat’ there was deliberate.

IL LT GOV Candidate Scott Cohen (D) drops knife, out of race.

As always, Cohen was going to stick it out to the end, right up to the moment that he decided to spend more time with the members of his family that don’t currently have restraining orders on him.

Illinois Democratic Lieutenant Governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen announced Sunday evening that he is withdrawing from the race amid revelations about his personal history.

Cohen, a millionaire pawnbroker and cleaning supplies company executive who emerged the victor in last week’s primary, had been accused of holding a knife to the neck of his ex-girlfriend, a prostitute, in 2005.

It has also been revealed in recent days that Cohen had once been accused of abusing an ex-wife. Cohen has also acknowledged using steroids for a period of time.

Word is that the Democrats are trying to find a replacement – a bit of a surprise to second-place finisher Arthur Turner, but then ‘democratic Illinois Democrat’ is an oxymoron – and it is my devout hope that the questionnaire gets leaked to the press. Between this, the entire ‘avoid paying taxes’ thing, and the rumors that another major philandering scandal’s going to hit a sitting Democratic governor tomorrow, the party leadership may end up deciding that the best way to get halfway normal candidates is to raise them from birth in a big plastic bubble…

Moe Lane

PS: Jason Plummer for Lt. Governor. He doesn’t cut women.
Shoot, I was looking forward to running on that one, too.

Crossposted to RedState.

The NRSC wastes *no* time on properly greeting Giannoulias.

(H/T: @sorendayton) You know, I noticed during the run-up to the Illinois Senatorial primary that more than one Democratic activist expressed worries about a Giannoulias primary win.  And why were they worried?

Pretty much because of what you’re about to see.

Welcome to Chicago.

Moe Lane

PS: Mark Kirk for Senate.

Crossposted to RedState.

Indicted Blagojevich advisor dead.

Death by aspirin overdose.

The man federal prosecutors pressured to cooperate in the corruption probe of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich died of an apparent aspirin overdose on Saturday, law enforcement sources said.

Christopher Kelly, 51, of Burr Ridge, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital at 10:46 a.m. An autopsy is scheduled for today, a Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman said.

Death. By aspirin overdose.

Uh-huhh.

Moe Lane

(H/T streiff)

Crossposted to RedState.

Roland Burris: Not so fast on my not running for IL-SEN.

Don’t tease us like this, Senator Burris.  It’s unseemly in a Senator:

“You never say never,” Burris told ABC News in a “Subway Series” interview for the ABC News program “Top Line.” The “Subway Series,” which debuts on Monday, features interviews with senators and other political leaders on board the Capitol Hill subway.

“What I’m still hearing,” Burris said, is “people from all over the country and they are saying, ‘Don’t give up that seat.'”

…yes. Yes, I suppose that this may be technically true. The question is, how many of them are Democrats registered to vote in Illinois? Continue reading Roland Burris: Not so fast on my not running for IL-SEN.

Rod Blagojevich hath a website.

This, I think, deserves Ace of Spade HQ‘s Flaming Skull:

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Rod Blagojevich, the disgraced and displaced former governor of Illinois, now has a website where he continues his fight for “ordinary people,” the Associated Press reports.

He has a website, a… radio talk show (WLS-890 AM, although he’s not on the schedule yet), a book (The Governor*) – and he’s available for public speaking gigs!  Universities especially: you could book him for your next commencement ceremony.

Oh.  Sorry about the “book him” thing, Rod…

Moe Lane

*“We follow the governor as he is awakened early one morning –his young daughter sleeping peacefully beside him – and unceremoniously arrested by FBI agents without knowing the charges being brought against him. We see the harsh glare of the spotlight, the media whirlwind already staking out his home and family, rushing to judgment before even the governor himself knew what crimes he’d been accused of committing. We follow him through the maze of political conspiracies that threaten to unseat and impeach the governor of the fifth largest state in the U.S. –forces brought to light by the ambition of an attorney general and the greed of her Democratic State Party Chairman father –as well as the zeal of a federal prosecutor and the manipulations of a disloyal lieutenant governor.”

There probably will not be a dull word in this one. Maybe ten truthful ones, but no dull ones.

Crossposted to RedState.

Burris off the perjury hook…

…and the Illinois Democratic party is kept firmly on the Burris one.

Far be it from me to suggest that the Illinois GOP has decided to not do the Illinois Democratic party a favor:

No perjury charge against US Sen. Burris-prosecutor

CHICAGO, June 19 (Reuters) – An Illinois prosecutor investigating the appointment of Roland Burris to President Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat said on Friday there was insufficient evidence to charge Burris with perjury.

Some of Burris’ answers to questions posed by an Illinois legislative committee in January were vague, but he did not lie about his discussions with then-Governor Rod Blagojevich’s aides concerning his appointment, Sangamon County Prosecutor John Schmidt said in a statement.

[snip]

“Some of (Burris’) statements were vague, but vague statements cannot support a perjury charge,” Schmidt said.

Continue reading Burris off the perjury hook…

Dick Durbin knew all along that Blagojevich was selling off the seat.

[UPDATE]: Welcome, Hot Air readers. I agree with Allahpundit that this was probably legal of Durbin, but I still think that he really should have mentioned it to somebody when the indictments started piling up.

This would only be a bombshell if it had been unexpected.

AP Exclusive: Blago talked to Durbin about Senate

CHICAGO (AP) – Just two weeks before his arrest on corruption charges, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich floated a plan to nominate to the U.S. Senate the daughter of his biggest political rival in return for concessions on his pet projects, people familiar with the plan told The Associated Press.

Blagojevich told fellow Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin he was thinking of naming Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to the seat vacated when Barack Obama won the presidential election, according to two Durbin aides who spoke on condition of anonymity.

[snip]

The aides said the concessions Blagojevich wanted in return were progress on capital spending projects and a health care bill that were stalled in the Legislature.

Continue reading Dick Durbin knew all along that Blagojevich was selling off the seat.

Burris did in fact make an offer for the Senate seat.

Harry, you ignorant slut.

I am perilously close to being gobsmacked by this transcript of the Burris/Blagojevich conversation (via Hot Air). I’m not a lawyer, but it seems to me that there’s enough there to indicate that Roland Burris flat-out lied about not trading favors and money for the Senate seat.  I am not, however, so stunned as to be unable to remind people about this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this

Hold on: let’s see that video again.

Ha!

this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and, finally, this.  In short – and may you have as an enjoyable time reviewing those posts as I did – Rod Blagojevich’s pick of Roland Burris for the Illinois Senate was a transparent trap – and Harry Reid and the rest of the Democratic Senate caucus sprung it anyway.  In fact, not being content with springing the trap, Reid and his caucus insisted on making every possible mistake that they could, too.  All because they were afraid.  People will be writing about this act of political revenge fifty years from now, and mocking the Senator from Nevada on every page, too.

Deservedly.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

Burris promised a campaign contribution to Blagojevich.

Ace of Spades (H/T, by the way) has kindly given me permission to use the Flaming Blagojevich Skull for this, so I shall:

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Sun-Times exclusive: Burris promised Blago campaign a check by mid-December

In a November conversation caught on an FBI wiretap, Roland Burris promised Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother that he’d write the governor a campaign check by mid-December, Burris’ lawyer said today.

That was about a month before Rod Blagojevich appointed Burris to the U.S. Senate.

But lawyer Timothy Wright told the Chicago Sun-Times today that his client never sent the check because he believed it wasn’t a good idea given Burris’ interest in the U.S. Senate seat appointment. Wright said Burris’ decision not to send the check had nothing to do with Blagojevich’s Dec. 9 arrest.

Continue reading Burris promised a campaign contribution to Blagojevich.