Scott Lee Cohen should not step down but should fight for the voters who nominated him

Leave it to the chorus of hypocrites in Illinois' media and politics to be caroling the lyrics demanding that  Scott Lee Cohen withdraw from the November 2 General Election Ballot. Why not? Why not attack an outsider who has been accused of some much, but never convicted or indicted or even charged. I mean, isn't that the way in Illinois politics and law?

Illinois has distinguished itself as the place where you don't need facts to convict someone. All you need are a bunch of high profile lynch mobs, some salacious accusations trumped up in 102 Point Type on the front pages of their economically depressed pages and a handful of political insiders who are determined to control Illinois not for the benefit of the state's citizens, but for their own.

I mean, let's face it, if the Illinois political elite who runt his state can force a sitting governor who was elected by the people out of office because of unproven accusations trumped up by a politically-motivated U.S. Attorney who went far beyond the boundaries of the Rule of Law, then why can't that same lynch mob bully some unknown politician from taking his place on an election ballot, a candidate who surprised everyone by winning the confidence of the state's voters despite the objections of the politicians who make it a practice to ignore the will of the citizens and abuse our taxes, rights and their responsibilities.

Scott Lee Cohen is accused, not convicted of anything. Why should he step down/ Well, because he wasn't the choice of the Democratic Party insiders who basically decide elections even before most voters are even aware an election will be taking place. Cohen is an outsider who used his own money, rather than the PAC dollars and sweet heart deal contract cash that usually trades hands quietly in the shadows of Springfield and Chicago's City Hall.

Here's the case against Cohen: He allegedly beat and threatened his wife, a long time ago in a domestic squabble. Today, though, that ex-wife is now standing at his side saying that the issues that separated them have been resolved. The bitter divorce happened in 2005 and the court records surfaced this week after Cohen surprised everyone and won the lieutenant governor's Democratic primary election.

Doesn't matter to the politicians who want to take the feeble Gov. Pat Quinn and guarantee his chances of winning re-election.

It's not that they care about Cohen's past. What they care about is how that past will be used to bring down Quinn. Although candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately in the primary, the winners of the primary run together as one team. Voters vote for them together, or the Republican alternative team -- and we don't even know who that team will be because Republican voters couldn't decide decisively between downstate legislator Bill Brady and DuPage County State Senator Kirk Dillard.

The other charge facing Cohen makes for saucy reading and sandcastle soapboxes for political hypocrites decrying his alleged problems, involve a former girlfriend who the media is calling a "prostitute." If the former girlfriend was arrested for prostitution as the media alleges, Cohen said he knew nothing about it. Scott denies his ex-girlfriend's claims that he threatened her with a knife.

Oh, it makes great screaming headlines. But they are not facts.

What happened to the presumption of innocence in this state and country? What happened to the rule of law? More importantly, what happened to the concept that the will of the majority of voters is greater than the whims of the insiders whose ranks have produced more federal criminals, convicts and con men than the popular HBO series The Sopranos?

Scott Lee Cohen can certainly make up his own mind. But I think the voters of Illinois know they are being played by the politicians and the cash-starved mainstream news media desperate for scandals to sell their weakened journalism products.

I say stay in the race and let the people of Illinois, for once, be the judge of our own future, rather than let the career politicians who can't even balance a state budget, manage government agencies, provide fundamental services or provide basic health care to their citizens.

I say let the voters by the choice and give Scott Lee Cohen the right to present his case in the court of public opinion, before he is lynched in the smoke-filled back rooms of Illinois' seedy political brothals.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com




Scott Lee Cohen is accused of everything these days, and suddenly so. Why? Why didn't the media do its job and bring these issues up BEFORE the election? Well, the media is so desperate in today's depressed economy they allow themselves to be led by their noses by the politicians and the Bosses