I urge anyone who is outraged at the election of Scott Lee Cohen to read Steve Rhodes (Go Cohen!) and John Kass (The Pawnbroker and the hooker). They're both taking more than a little glee in rubbing the noses of Democratic voters in their own soiled ballots this week.
Rhodes quoting Cohen, then adding an essential note:
"I understand it looks bad, and that's why I tried so hard to put it out the day I announced I was running . . . I have answered every question that was asked of me by the media."
Unlike, say, Alexi Giannoulias. But somehow he and his problems are not a disgrace to the ticket.
In his tale of comparison, Kass reminds us about the back story of a business partner of US Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias:
In 2002, Laws was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison. The circuit's Outfit protector, Michael "Jaws" Giorango, was convicted of promoting a nationwide prostitution ring and sentenced to six months federal time.
Even before his last prison stay, Giorango had reinvented himself as a real estate investor.
He'd already been purchasing office buildings and renting space to politicians. His tenants included U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.; now-retired state Sen. Carol Ronen, D-Chicago, and state Rep. Harry Osterman, D-Chicago. He also received $11 million in loans from the Giannoulias family's Broadway Bank. The loans to Jaws were approved by Alexi Giannoulias.
To the Illinoisans who are outraged about Scott Lee Cohen, I say embrace your own. Scott Lee Cohen belongs to us, the great voters of Illinois. All the Ballot Builders and IVI-IPOs of the world couldn't drag us away from electing Scott Lee Cohen. Practically every union the in the state endorsed (but apparently didn't work hard enough for) Arthur Turner. But we loved Scott Lee Cohen more.
If this is somehow a disaster, I'm not sure, as Kass and Rhodes point out, why Alexi– he of the albatross– is not. So you can keep your phony (see what I did there, Salinger?) Facebook group demanding he step aside.
Either make your peace with Scott Lee Cohen, or apply your outrage to the whole slate. If you can't do that, then go back to keeping your mouth shut, February 1-style.