And Confusion reigns in Illinois....

[dudalb]

BOth the Dem and GOP primaries are in a dead heat, with recounts almost a certainity.
Illinois Politics, it never fails to provide entertainment.....

[WildCat]

Hey, at least we got rid of Stroger!

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Hey, the living-disabled take a while to vote.

But I'm happy Kirk won for the Senate race. I don't know why Democrats voted with Alexi, as he seems unelectable.

Obama called Quinn to congratulate him, but thankfully Hynes isn't conceding.

As for the Republicans, it is really way too close.

[Dancing David]

Alexi may be a hold your nose vote.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

Damn, Hynes conceded. Haven't heard on the Republican side.

[carlitos]

Hey, at least we got rid of Stroger!

Amen. Quoting my wife - "If they elect this guy again, they are practically begging us to leave Cook County." So, thank you Democrats for allowing me to keep my urban lifestyle. And Giannoulias will certainly be unelectable, so congrats to Senator-elect Kirk. :)

ETA - With the exception of Mark Kirk, I voted for all losers. Again.

[WildCat]

Yeah, Giannoulias has big problems. Feds are crawling all over his family-owned bank, and it's not like bankers don't have an image problem as it is.

And how about the guy who won the Dem primary for Lieutenant Governor? Apparently he was arrested for domestic abuse in 2005 for holding a knife to the throat of his live-in girlfriend... who happened to be a hooker. Pat Quinn is trying to get him to quit the ticket.

[WildCat]

BTW, when I went in to vote tuesday (my polling place was in the back room of a restaurant) I started to give my name to the election judge, but when I looked down at the thick book (each page has the name of one registered voter) I noticed it was already opened up to my name!

"That's me", I said. What were the odds of that? :)

[JoeTheJuggler]

BTW, when I went in to vote tuesday (my polling place was in the back room of a restaurant) I started to give my name to the election judge, but when I looked down at the thick book (each page has the name of one registered voter) I noticed it was already opened up to my name!

"That's me", I said. What were the odds of that? :)

It's happened to me before.

Depending on your name and the size of your district and how they have the lines set up, it could be not so long at all.

If you get in the line that says "W-Z" and your name is "Wells", the odds may be high that the book will be open to the two pages (what's that--some 30 names?) with your name on it. And if you vote in at least one election (or maybe an average of 2) each year, it's nearly certain to happen sooner or later.

Back on topic---is confusion still reigning in Illinois?

[dudalb]

Still, this primary was not as much fun as the one where wanting to have public sex with 7 of 9 played a role.

[WildCat]

It's happened to me before.

Depending on your name and the size of your district and how they have the lines set up, it could be not so long at all.

If you get in the line that says "W-Z" and your name is "Wells", the odds may be high that the book will be open to the two pages (what's that--some 30 names?) with your name on it. And if you vote in at least one election (or maybe an average of 2) each year, it's nearly certain to happen sooner or later.
There were only 2 lines, and it was arranged by address, not names. There had to be hundreds of pages in that book.

Back on topic---is confusion still reigning in Illinois?
There's only 4-500 votes separating the GOP governor hopefuls, absentee and provisional ballots haven't been counted yet.

[JoeTheJuggler]

There's only 4-500 votes separating the GOP governor hopefuls, absentee and provisional ballots haven't been counted yet.

Sounds like sheer anarchy! Has there been any looting yet?

[carlitos]

Are you mixing up "confusion" with "chaos," maybe? Because we have been governed by confusion here for 150 years. We only get chaos every 10 - 15.

[Dancing David]

"Illinois, second in corruption but moving forward!"

It is sad, we almost had the failure of the State government and more looks to be coming soon, one candidate wants to cut teh budget by 20%.

At least you can a 'Governor's' license plate, stamped by George Ryan, soon to be joined by Hot Rod.

[JoeTheJuggler]

Are you mixing up "confusion" with "chaos," maybe? Because we have been governed by confusion here for 150 years. We only get chaos every 10 - 15.

I'll quibble--"confusion reigns" is not the same as "confusion".

At any rate, what is being confused with what?

There are a couple of very close primary races, and there will doubtless be re-counts before a result is certified* (unless candidates concede in the best interest of their parties**). It's happened before.

And even though there is plenty of corruption in Illinois' politics (unlike every other state!), I don't think these close races are any indication of corruption.

ETA *Or rather before the parties come up with their nominees for the November ballot.

** Oh I see Hynes has conceded to Quinn. So much for "confusion.

[JoeTheJuggler]

From the NY Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/05/us/05governor.html):

Recounts are not automatic in close races in Illinois, as they are in some other states, and they have been rare.

A candidate who is trailing but has received at least 95 percent of the total number of votes captured by the leading vote-getter has the right to call for a discovery recount, in which a sample of ballots are re-examined.

But the process can begin only after preliminary vote totals are certified and made official, which can take up to three weeks. Beyond that, a discovery recount could take several more weeks. If a candidate then wants to contest the results, he must a file a lawsuit in State Circuit Court.

“If you want to do a recount, you are approaching a very fragmented task,” said Lawrence T. Miller, a lawyer who specializes in election law, among other areas. “You’ve got 102 counties in Illinois. It is a Herculean task.”

Political experts said Wednesday that they thought a Republican recount request was likely.

“It’s out of our hands,” said the party’s state chairman, Pat Brady, who is no relation to Bill Brady. “There’s a law that lays all this out.”

Again, it doesn't sound very confusing to me. It also sounds like a full re-count is unlikely.

As Brady says, "There's a law that lays all this out."

[Beerina]

BTW, when I went in to vote tuesday (my polling place was in the back room of a restaurant) I started to give my name to the election judge, but when I looked down at the thick book (each page has the name of one registered voter) I noticed it was already opened up to my name!

"That's me", I said. What were the odds of that? :)


"Odd," said your wife. "He had to flip all the pages to get to my name."

[Alferd_Packer]

It's happened to me before.

Depending on your name and the size of your district and how they have the lines set up, it could be not so long at all.

If you get in the line that says "W-Z" and your name is "Wells", the odds may be high that the book will be open to the two pages (what's that--some 30 names?) with your name on it. And if you vote in at least one election (or maybe an average of 2) each year, it's nearly certain to happen sooner or later.

Back on topic---is confusion still reigning in Illinois?


My neighbor is the election judge, so they already knew my name, (but asked anyway for formalities sake)

[dudalb]

Of course This take the cake when it comes to Illinois Primaries:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_Primary


And, yes, Al Capone was heavily involved with the Pineapple Primary. It was just a year before that Al Capone beat up the mayor of Cicero, Illinois(a suberb of Chicago) in front of City Hall just to remind him who was boss....
"Chicago,Chicago, That Toddling Town"...:D

[WildCat]

It just gets better...


Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen insists that he didn't know that the woman he met at a Glenview (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/neighborhoods.html?region=1395589) massage parlor in 2005 was a prostitute. But records show that at about the same time he visited the spa and met the woman, Amanda J. Eneman, the business had been the subject of numerous complaints of prostitution.

Eneman herself was arrested for prostitution at the Eden Spa in April 2005 for performing a sex act on an undercover police officer in exchange for $150. The police report quoted her telling the officer at the end of their session that prostitution was common there.


Cohen said he got only a "straight massage" at the Eden Spa, with no sexual contact. He said Eneman became his live-in girlfriend after they met there. Later, she accused him of domestic battery, but the charge was dropped after she failed to appear in court.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/02/scott-lee-cohen.html

She's not bad looking for a massage parlor hooker.

Whetehr he likes it or not Gov. Quinn is saddled with this douche as his running mate, Cohen spent several million of his own money on the primary election and won't drop out of the ticket.

[dudalb]

She's no Jeri Ryan, but not bad.....

[Springfork]

The IL dems political trainwreck continues.;) This Cohen thing is just rich, and you'd be hard pressed to make up a story like this. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy than Pat Quinn. If it wasn't for attending military funerals and starting up the Citizens Utility Board, Quinn wouldn't have a thing to talk about...except for his "solution for everything"... raising our taxes.

[WildCat]

The IL dems political trainwreck continues.;) This Cohen thing is just rich, and you'd be hard pressed to make up a story like this. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy than Pat Quinn. If it wasn't for attending military funerals and starting up the Citizens Utility Board, Quinn wouldn't have a thing to talk about...except for his "solution for everything"... raising our taxes.
Quinn is a nice guy, and he means well. But he is too flighty, unable to put his foot down and assert his authority when he needs to. He has really disappointed me as governor, he folded like a lawn chair under pressure from Madigan on reforms and the budget.

Despite all the criticism Hynes got for running the "Harold Washington ad", Harold's quotes about Quinn are as true now as they were then.

[WildCat]

The hooker speaks! And says Cohen is not fit for public office:

The ex-girlfriend of embattled Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen put out a statement through her lawyer this evening saying Cohen is not fit to hold public office.

Amanda Eneman, 29, issued the statement through Gloria Allred, a high-profile California attorney. Cohen, a pawnbroker, was accused of holding a knife to the throat of his then-girlfriend Eneman, a convicted prostitute, in October 2005. Charges were dismissed after Eneman failed to show up in court.

Allred said Eneman lived with Cohen for “about a year some four or five years ago.”

“Based on her personal observations during the course of their relationship and his behavior, Miss Eneman does not believe that he is fit to hold any public office, including that of lieutenant governor,” Allred told the Tribune.
Oh great, Gloria Allred is involved now.

Cohen should be careful what he wishes for:
The Eneman statement comes after Cohen said Thursday that Democratic voters who nominated him Tuesday needed to hear from his ex-wife and ex-girlfriend before judging him.
D'oh!

[applecorped]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9DNM6N04&show_article=1

CHICAGO (AP) - The Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor has dropped out of the race less than a week after winning the nomination amid a political uproar about his past. Scott Lee Cohen (http://topics.breitbart.com/Scott+Lee+Cohen/) announced his decision Sunday night at a Chicago bar.
The pawn broker and owner of a cleaning supplies company won the nomination Tuesday. Since then, it has become widely know that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend.
The girlfriend herself had been charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.

[Tsukasa Buddha]

The pawn broker and owner of a cleaning supplies company won the nomination Tuesday. Since then, it has become widely know that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend.
The girlfriend herself had been charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.

Well, that settles it! The man was a monster.

[Beerina]

I heard he had not one, but two moving violations. :mad:

[WildCat]

Damn, now that Cohen dropped out this race will be boring. I wonder which magazine the hooker will end up posing for?

[carlitos]

Quinn is a nice guy, and he means well. But he is too flighty, unable to put his foot down and assert his authority when he needs to. He has really disappointed me as governor, he folded like a lawn chair under pressure from Madigan on reforms and the budget.
I was at Gene and Georgetti recently, and Pat Quinn was dining in the back room (table for 2, no idea who the other person was). The bartender and waiter were lamenting that "Blago would have been working the whole room, Quinn just sits by himself and eats." He could use a little charisma, it's too back that Cohen is off the ticket. He certainly had charisma. :)

On the downside, Democrats in Illinois (if they were honest) could spend the next couple of years studying the books to figure out how Cohen is being repaid his $2 million. My top guesses would be:

- appointment to pension position in state gov't
- contract to his cleaning-supply company
- favorable zoning for a friend/family/associate
- cash on the barrelhead