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Health & Fitness

Politics Boobies and Beer Redux: Lt Gov

Illinois Lt Governor: A Hard Seat to Fill
Real quick folks....name the Lt Governor of Illinois. Better yet, next time you are at  a gathering, ask the question and see if anyone actually knows the answer, or even whether the Lt Gov of Illinois is a man or a woman or a farm animal or a mineral.... 
Lt Governor is supposed to be the second highest executive position in Illinois. Unfortunately that is too often in theory only. In fact, former Lt Governor David O'Neal actually resigned as Lt Governor back in 1981 and cited "unbearable boredom" as his reason. You should know that when that happens in Illinois, there is no mechanism to replace a Lt Governor that leaves prior to finishing the term. In that case, AND THIS IS IMPORTANT FOLKS, the next in line to ascend is the Attorney General. That is currently a position held in an almost unbreakable grip by Lisa Madigan, Crown Princess of "Madiganistan." Any wonder why so many career politicians in Mike Madigan's camp are pushing so strongly to eliminate the position of Lt. Governor? If there is no Lt Governor, and if Quinn (or whoever is Governor) resigns or is found to be unable to administer his duties, Darling Daughter Lisa Madigan moves into the big chair.
We all know what happened to put the current Governor, Pat Quinn, into the big chair. Quinn had run and won the Democratic primary as the Lt Governor candidate, much to many Democrats' chagrine and absolute disbelief and to the Governor Candidate's disdain.  Rod "Dippity Doo I Love You" Blogojevitch had no choice as to who his running mate was.
You'd have thought that by that time, someone would have figured out that it might be prudent to allow the Governor candidates to choose their own running mates....and you would be wrong....as Pat Quinn found out last election when in 2010 Scott Cohen won the primary for Lt Governor. Now Scott Cohen is a pretty smart guy and had big plans for making the Lt Governor position more lucrative. In fact, it was very lucrative for Scott after it was publicly announced that the pawn shop owner -turned- potential- Lt Governor had a shady criminal past that included holding a knife to the throat of his girlfriend, who was exposed as being a prostitute.
Mr Cohen successfully fought off attempts to remove him from the ticket and eventually "voluntarily" stepped down in exchange for undisclosed "favors". Sounds lucrative to me!
That paved the way for Sheila Simon (a virtual unknown besides being the Daughter of the late Senator and Presidential Candidate Paul Simon) to become the current Lt Governor. Pretty odd situation the Democrats had last election, right? It gets odder folks...
In the past, the Lt Governor, or as some like to call it, Gov Lite, has been determined independently from the Governor's candidate. In fact, back in the 1969-1973 term, the Lt Gov position was actually filled by a person from the opposite party of the Governor. Again, it was Democrat Paul Simon that served as Lt Governor to Republican Richard Ogilvie. Gotta' love Illinois politics as this was one team that didn't get indicted, despite having to explain the shoe boxes full of cash (800 grand) found in Secretary Of State Paul Powell's possession as well as the downfall of 2 Supreme Court justices for stock manipulation and corruption at the Sate Fair. 
There have been attempts in the past to voluntarily run the Governor and Lt Governor as a team. The last team to try this was businessman Andy McKenna and State Senator Matt Murphy, and despite showing a reasonable platform and posting respectable numbers, lost in the primary to Brady as the GOP Governor Candidate. However, this set the stage for the current system of electing Governor's and Lt Governors.
This next election will finally be a team effort in that the Governor candidates MUST select their own Lt Governor and run as a team. Now folks, this is going to be fun for a few reasons. Lt Governor Sheila Simon has announced that she will NOT be seeking another term as Lt Governor on the Democratic ticket. Instead, she will be running for Comptroller, a position currently held by Republican Judy Barr Topenka, one of 2 GOP candidates to have won state-wide office by a major victory last election. The other GOP'er that won handily is State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who is also a candidate for Governor but seems to be having an extremely hard time finding anyone willing to run as his Lt Governor.
It appears that Mr Rutherford was a bit pre-mature when he put out a press release stating that he would announce his running mate on Twitter (yes, Twitter and not the regular news channels) and that the announcement would be "Imminent". That was on Monday August 26th. Almost a week later there is still no announcement for a very simple reason: his own camp has leaked ( they leak like a sieve over there) that Rutherford's initial choice(s) for running mates have decided to back another candidate.
So what happens if Dan can't get a prom date? Does he still rent the tux? Does a Governor candidate have to have a Lt Governor on the ticket? I think he will most likely beg Kay Hatcher to be his running mate as she has shown she can get votes and still tolerate Rutherford's somewhat chauvinistic attitude and sense of social superiority...and she may actually enjoy being a prom queen.
And that leads us back to Quinn and Daley on the Democrat side. Without Sheila Simon, Quinn needs to either pick a Lt Governor or pray that he can get legislation passed eliminating the post of Lt Governor by next election (fat chance, he cut off the legislators pay and besides, those guys can't even get a workable pension reform proposal together!) Daley ("the other white meat" from the Democrats) is probably hoping for the same, otherwise he'll have to choose a running mate with vote getting ability as well. The interesting part about this election is that Illinois is so screwed up and the people so angry that NEITHER party should be counting on past party votes to insure a win. Which leads us back to the GOP candidates.
NOW THIS IS SOMETHING TO CONSIDER FOLKS....Both Brady and Dillard need to choose a running mate that can guarantee them votes...and funds for their campaigns . That means they need to find another career politician  or a really REALLY wealthy running mate. Wealthy running mates are in short supply this election.
They ( Brady and Dillard) have both battled in the last election and basically fought to a draw with Brady taking the primary...and losing the big one in what can only be described as a valiant screw up of a sure thing. I mean seriously, how could anyone lose to Quinn after the Blago scandal? You really have to work hard at alienating votes to screw up that one. Then again, both Brady and Dillard are ant-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigration and both even proposed to REDUCE the minimum wage. They are both touted as a "Man of the Century". Unfortunately, that century was the one where women couldn't vote and Lincoln was splitting logs. Is it any wonder they also support eliminating the post of Lt Governor? They can't seem to get a prom date either! 
That leaves one candidate that is probably the best bet for both winning the election and actually fixing some of our devastating problems in Illinois....and he's staying really quiet about his selection as running mate. Bruce Rauner has a luxury in choosing a Lt Governor. He doesn't believe that a Lt Governor is a mere annoyance that should be "seen but not heard"...far from it. Lt Governors should be considered a valuable working asset. I agree...if you're going to have a Lt Governor you should have one that actually does something and is prepared to step into the role of Governor. These other guys are treating the role of Second in Command as little more than a cash cow and to get votes with. Rauner doesn't need the cash cow, and getting votes in the current climate of frustrated citizens may be easier for him than for the others. After all, he doesn't have 20 years of being center ring in the Springfield Circus. What he does have is financial expertise, enough expertise to make him an economist with a wing named after him at Dartmouth. And he's got money...lots and lots of his own and lots of support from those folks that have decided that the other candidates aren't worth throwing any more money at after years of getting such poor results. They have had season tickets to the Springfield Circus for decades and are opting not to renew them.
That gives Rauner a distinct advantage in choosing a Lt Governor. He doesn't have to pick a schmuck in order to get campaign financing, he doesn't have to pick a professional politician to stuff the ballot box. He gets to pick a Lt Governor that the people of Illinois can get their money's worth from. That means that we may actually get a team that can solve our problems and take back Springfield from the Circus Clowns. I keep thinking he'll choose a tactician type with great skills in both large scale administration and legal environments. Perhaps an economist or a civics expert. Maybe a seasoned professional that has continuously bucked the system and their own party in order to place the voters and citizen first, and party politics second. I personally think Judy Barr Topenka and Bruce Rauner would be a formidable combination. Maybe even former Mayor of Palatine Rita Mullins. She's got years of experience and has told her party "HELL NO!" on more than one occasion. Congressman Adam Kinzlinger would be okay if only for his ability to garner votes and, like Bruce, his passion to restore those Veteran benefits that have been eliminated under Brady, Dillard, and Quinn's last term. 
But then again, I have no certainty about who the actual running mates are going to be. The only candidate that seems to actually have made his selection of a person that has agreed to run...is Bruce Rauner. And Bruce isn't saying anything...yet. He does do a lot of smiling though, while the other candidates seem to smile not so much, if at all... 
  
 

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