Six days later, on April 24, the wishy-washy local media finally caught up to us on that story - sort of. Even then, the media just couldn't bring themselves to say what CNB did - that Cohen would actually run. Nope, they couched their stories with "maybe" and "might" and "may," not wanted to commit to what CNB already knew. So today, more than two weeks after we scooped everyone else, it is with a big yawn and a "ho-hum" that we pass along the fact that Cohen made a public statement this morning, telling the world that he would run for governor as an independent. A big "thanks" to friend John Ruberry at Marathon Pundit for his post "Six days after Chicago News Bench reports it, Chicago Tribune says Cohen running for guv" on April 24.
But Cohen is a Democrat, regardless of the label he now uses. He has said repeatedly that he is a Democrat and that his values are those of a Democrat. He's been sucking up to Michael Madigan, the man who engineered his ouster from the Democrat ticket a week after he won the Lt. Governor position in the Democrat primary. Cohen has flaked out on a number of commitments, including the well publicized non-appearance at Erie Cafe on April 14, organized by William J. Kelly. Cohen never did call Kelly beforehand to say he wouldn't show up, nor afterward to apologize and offer an explanation. Cohen still has a lot of unanswered questions about his (allegedly) sordid past, and we'd all like to know what the threats were that Madigan made to him. Cohen has admitted that he received threats from the Illinois Democrat Party prior to his agreeing to drop off the ticket in February.
Will the Cohen vote split enough numbers away from the Quinn-Simon ticket to help Bill Brady in November? Yes, if enough Democrat voters are stupid enough to vote for him. Brady must be smiling.
RELATED:
Scott Lee Cohen Runs for Ill. Gov. as Independent - Publius Forum
