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Cohen claims his religion was a factor

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* Scott Lee Cohen told Chicago Magazine that he believes his religion was one reason he was booted from the ticket…

Anything else?
Only how much of an effect my religion had on being part of the party. Listen, I’m Jewish. I’m only the third Jewish person to ever win the nomination for a statewide office. And I believe that that had some influence on the party not wanting me.

What gave you that impression?
The elected officials would never say that they don’t want me because I’m Jewish. But it did come up in chatter and in backroom meetings.

And a lot of the papers kept using the word “pawnbroker.” You know, being a pawnbroker is predominantly a Jewish business. My opponents kept attacking, kept saying, “the millionaire pawnbroker,” which a lot of people took as saying, “the millionaire Jew.” Jewish people, you know, have been persecuted our whole existence, and again, this is 2010, and maybe I’m naive, but I don’t believe it was an issue with the people as much as it was with the party.

I didn’t realize that pawnbroker was still code for “Jewish.” Either way, Cohen is a pawnbroker, so I’m not sure what he wanted to be called. If he was a firefighter, the stories would’ve called him that. Also, he ought to out the political types who made anti-Semitic remarks about his candidacy in “backroom meetings,” if they actually do exist.

* In related news, the vetting process for prospective lt. governor candidates is pretty darned intense…

In what could possibly produce the most well vetted candidate in Illinois political history, Democratic leaders are asking prospective nominees for lieutenant governor to fill out an 11-page questionnaire that covers an array of topics, asking applicants to detail traffic tickets, real estate tax exemptions, code violations and if they’ve ever used performance-enhancing drugs.

Applicants are asked to name spouses and where they work and whether anyone in their family is a lobbyist and if so whom they lobbied and when. Sitting lawmakers are told to list everyone who’s ever received a legislative scholarship and whether the recipient’s family ever donated or volunteered for their campaigns. A total of 45 questions cover personal, professional, political and legal issues. Interviews begin Saturday in sites across the state, including local sessions in Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates. The state Democratic Party’s central committee meets March 27 in Springfield to pick a winner. […]

Among the questions hopefuls now face is whether they are divorced, where it was filed and on what grounds it was granted. The divorce question includes this provision: “Do you believe anything could be found in your divorce papers that would disqualify you in the minds of voters from being on the ticket?”

Since the Cohen debacle, the media and the Republicans will probably try to comb through the past of whomever has been chosen.

…Adding… Read all the questions by clicking here.

* Related…

* Suburban residents seek lt. gov. nomination

* Ask The Times: Lieutenant Governor ballot spot

posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:12 am

Comments

  1. Thank goodness we got that cleared up. I’ll now have to tell my Jewish friends they should not consider running for office unless they are a firefighter. We might make an exception if they are a carpenter.

    Comment by Justice Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:21 am

  2. lol

    Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:22 am

  3. Is he upset because they kept calling him by his last name as well?

    Comment by Small Town Liberal Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:28 am

  4. Like I said at the time, he is not even known in the organized Jewish community. Seems like he will say anything to find an excuse. This one had nothing to do with anti-semitism. Just like a he came out of nowhere to win the nomination, he came out of nowhere to Jewish community events in the couple months before the election. His consultant was not dumb. Hey, with a guy named Cohen maybe I can pick up some Jewish support was his thought I’m sure.

    Comment by Niles Township Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:28 am

  5. Kind of late to be playing the anti-semitism card.

    Comment by wordslinger Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:31 am

  6. I think that it would only be fair for the members of the Democratic Central Committee to fill out the same background questionnaire.

    Comment by Anonymous Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:32 am

  7. I have to tell you all that I am NOT amused by this guy. Noone in the Jewish community ever even heard of SLC before he ran for office. I was one of the first that asked him to drop from the race and I dont think anyone is going to accuse ME of being anti-semetic any time soon.

    Comment by Lou Lang Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:35 am

  8. The guy’s delusional

    Comment by Stones Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:38 am

  9. This guy needs to just go away and stop embarrassing himself.

    Wisconsin has like five Jews and two of them are U.S. Senators.

    Comment by just sayin' Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:42 am

  10. While anti-semiticism is alive and well, as a Jewish, quasi-democrat, I do not believe anti-semiticism played any part of this debacle. It is a cheap shot by SLC.

    Comment by Just Observing Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:42 am

  11. I think perhaps SLC is on to something.

    The fact that he allegedly beat his wife and hooker girlfriend, recently used illegal drugs, and didn’t pay his child support had NO effect on him dropping out of the race.

    This guy is positively Blagoian in his delusion.

    Comment by IrishPirate Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:48 am

  12. And right, his treatment had nothing to do with having gotten arrested for physically assaulting his hooker girlfriend and putting a knife to her throat while hopped up on steroids. Nothing to do with that.

    Comment by just sayin' Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:49 am

  13. I guess “allegedly” beating up your girlfriend, abusing your wife and taking illegal substances doesn’t really matter to the Democratic party…but they were pretty handy excuses for them to get rid of the Jewish candidate. As a Jewish person, I’m offended by SLC’s bravado.

    Comment by Really?? Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:50 am

  14. I’m offended by SLC’s bravado

    Well, you might even say he has plenty of chutzpah.

    Too bad he also had plenty of court appearances, unpaid support, etc. I wonder how often he was seen at temple before this…..

    Comment by Pat collins Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:56 am

  15. Has SLC talked with Glenn Selig or Michael Viner yet? Sounds like he’s trying to write a story for a book or a Lifetime special.

    Comment by Pre Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:58 am

  16. Working title… “My struggle as a wife beater.”

    Comment by Pre Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:59 am

  17. === Wisconsin has like five Jews and two of them are U.S. Senators. ===

    Ha… well there are a few more of us there than five. Other neat facts: Alaska, Idaho, and Utah (all which have few Jews than Wisconsin) have had Jewish Governors.

    Comment by Just Observing Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 10:02 am

  18. So the LG questionnaire includes a disclosure of performance-enhancing drug use. Is that athletic performances? Or are there some secret political performance-enhancing drugs out there?

    Comment by Sewanee Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 10:03 am

  19. This is preposterous. First of all, no one equates “pawnbroker” with “Jewish.” They associate “pawnbroker” with “shady,” which, lo and behold, he was. And for crying out loud, he ran for Lt. Governor, not the Merchant of Venice.

    Comment by Anonymiss Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 10:04 am

  20. this is just mishugana,,,he must be kreplach…

    Comment by Loop Lady Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 10:10 am

  21. Utah had a Jewish governor? What happened, were the Mormons too busy servicing their harems that election day?

    Comment by Conservative Republican Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 10:12 am

  22. SLC is beginning to approach Blagojevich levels of crazy, if you asked me.

    Comment by TJ Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 10:13 am

  23. Rich,
    I’m not sure if anybody else noticed but the time stamp on posts might not have adjusted to daylight savings. Its Friday so that hour is killing me….

    Comment by Pre Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 10:13 am

  24. Thanks. I’ve been so busy all week that I simply forgot. Fixed.

    Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:14 am

  25. If they exist, I too would like the names of the anti-Semites in the Democratic party so I can ridicule them.

    I don’t think pawnbroker has been associated with Jew since the time when anti-Semitism was prevalent. If you’re going to use that argument, then neurologist, lawyer and cardiologist are all going to be “code” for Jew as well (at least these groups seem heavily present at my temple–could just be the fact that it’s in Oak Park).

    Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:16 am

  26. Scott, as one Member of the Tribe to another, STFU.

    You were rightly pushed from the ticket because of your recent past. Trust me, Bubeleh, if this state’s news reporters had done their jobs, you never would have won on Feb. 2.

    Anti-Semitism is a real problem, and your whining self-pity trivializes it.

    Comment by Northsider Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:18 am

  27. Didn’t we already elect a Jewish lieut-gov?

    Sam Shapiro?

    The anti-Semetic charge is an unnecessary ploy to save face for his legal/moral issues.

    Comment by Nearly Normal Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:21 am

  28. Regarding Utah’s Jewish governor, Simon Bamberger, its really interesting:

    See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bamberger

    What a guy.

    Scott Lee Cohen, you are no Simon Bamberger…

    Comment by Conservative Republican Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:21 am

  29. “millionaire firefighter” would be a cool description.

    Comment by been there Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:23 am

  30. Maybe MJM can show he’s not anti-semitic by choosing another Jew to replace SLC - Art Turner.

    Comment by Anonymiss Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:23 am

  31. Shapiro moved up when Kerner left office.

    Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:27 am

  32. I don’t know about Cohen’s claim that there hasn’t been many statewide Jewish officeholders. But, Illinois has had a Jewish Governor. Anyway, this is Illinois: the land of sleaze. Cohen went pretty far.
    In most states Cohen couldn’t get the support of powerful politicians like Bernie Stone and Dick Mell. Cohen has no one to blame, he only needs to look in the mirror.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Horner

    Comment by Steve Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:28 am

  33. Thanks for the history lesson, Rich.

    I would have correct if I said “have” instead of “elect.”

    Comment by Nearly Normal Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:31 am

  34. Sheesh–”would have been correct if I said ‘have’ instead of ‘elect.’”

    I’m going back outside to do yard work.

    Comment by Nearly Normal Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:34 am

  35. I thought the application was pretty much a direct take off of the character & fitness portion of the bar exam, except I didn’t have to drive to each county courthouse for a copy of my 10 year old traffic tickets.

    Comment by Rayne of Terror Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:49 am

  36. ==Also, he ought to out the political types who made anti-Semitic remarks about his candidacy in “backroom meetings,” if they actually do exist.==

    Hmmm — if any anti-Semitic posts were deleted from this blog, should the moderator be outed as part of a cover-up?

    Comment by Pat Robertson Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:49 am

  37. Interesting factoid: SLC’s Hebrew name is “Shanda”.

    Comment by Longtime Downstate Liberal Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:51 am

  38. Cohen would have made a great Lt Gov…..with Blago!

    Comment by Hank Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:51 am

  39. All SLC had to do is say he was going to stay on the ticket, right? He wasn’t booted off, was he? A mensch he is not. Not with his past.

    Comment by dupage dan Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:55 am

  40. Hey, LDL, that was pretty funny

    Comment by Lou Lang Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:56 am

  41. Let me see…SLC….
    I guess we can now add race-baiting and uber-blaming to the following list:

    blade-wielding, alleged woman-beating, hooker-consorting, child support delaying, drug-using, tear-squirting, election-quitting, nausea-inducing pawn-broker.

    Comment by Jake from Elwood Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 11:57 am

  42. I’m with Lou. That is a good one.

    Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:01 pm

  43. Sewanee-

    Based on the performance of our state politicos in the last several years, maybe we ought to encourage performance-enhancing drugs. lol

    Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:03 pm

  44. SCL is and always was a clown. He just happened to be rich enough to lavishly self fund his campaign and won an office no one was paying attention to.

    He dropped out because Mike Madigan “asked” him to. Mike suggested him that if he didn’t see the light, Lisa would investigate all aspects of his business and personal life.

    SCL cried and saw the light.

    Comment by jaded voter Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:10 pm

  45. Wow, with this level of denial he could have been governor…

    Comment by OneMan Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:11 pm

  46. I’m just surprised it took him this long to make the baseless “I’m being persecuted because I’m Jewish” argument. I expected it the first week.

    Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:13 pm

  47. Conservative Republican–”Utah had a Jewish governor? What happened, were the Mormons too busy servicing their harems that election day?”

    If THAT isn’t an inappropriate comment or a gratuitous insult, I don’t know what is!

    Comment by Captain Flume Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:18 pm

  48. Scott Lee Cohen’s replacement should have to get 25,000 sigs to demonstrate they have enough support to be on the ballot. The Democratic Party of Illinois would require a Jewish Party of Illinois candidate get 25,000 sigs if they ran someone for Lt. Governor this year. What does Lou Lang think about that potential antisemitism written into Illinois election law?

    Should a Jewish Party of Illinois candidate who did not appear in the primary have to get the same number of signatures as the Democrat that didn’t appear in the primary?

    Comment by TaxMeMore Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:29 pm

  49. TaxMeMore, that was snark, right? Sheesh, man, take a breath.

    Comment by Rich Miller Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:34 pm

  50. ==- Anonymous - Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 9:32 am:

    I think that it would only be fair for the members of the Democratic Central Committee to fill out the same background questionnaire.==

    Ditto!

    Comment by Lakefront Liberal Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:35 pm

  51. PATHETIC!

    What should we expect from a guy who put a knife to another human being’s throat?

    And I thought I was calling for his resignation because of his domestic abuse issues. He can tell himself that all day long, but he is using the RRB playbook now.

    Comment by siriusly Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:35 pm

  52. I thought it was Scott Lee Cohan and that he was Irish. Oh, well.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M._Cohan

    Comment by paddyrolingstone Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:39 pm

  53. First, I don’t believe that SLC’s religion had anything to do with the Dem powers-that-be’s decision to ask SLC to drop out. SLC would have brought down the Dem ticket. I, as a Dem, am happy he resigned. I do believe, however, that the press simply could have called or referred to SLC as a “Chicago businessman”; a “businessman from Chicago”; or simply a “businessman.” In my opinion, too much focus was on only one type of business SLC operated–the pawnbroker business–as opposed to the environment- friendly business he also operated…cannot recall the name. And some of the blog comments/online comments (not on The Capitol Fax Blog, mind you)went a bit overboard into stereotyping. Perhaps others will disagree..who knows.

    Comment by Yiddish Cowboy Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 12:51 pm

  54. Obviously it can’t be factually established, but on an emotional level I’m Jewish, I voted for him, and I take the attacks as partly anti jewish. I know he has lots of problems but I think when people win they are the winners. If my vote is going to be ignored, this Jewish Dem will vote Green-at least that way I know my vote will be meaningless.

    Comment by Its Only Me Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 1:08 pm

  55. Another historical factoid:

    Not that it should matter, but — the first Jewish governor of Illinois was Henry Horner.

    In 1933, he (Horner) signed Illinois’s first permanent sales tax law into effect with an inaugural rate of 2.0%. Horner also signed a bill in 1935 increasing the Illinois sales tax rate to 3.0%.

    His administration was marked by integrity and a strong commitment to both conservative fiscal management and the needs of the indigent and those in state institutions.

    Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Horner

    Comment by Scott Summers Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 1:08 pm

  56. SLC “Religion” doesn’t come into consideration when it’s main use consists of phrases like:

    “Oh dear God…that was a great massage”
    “I swear to God I didn’t hit her that hard”

    Try again SLC…try again.

    Comment by How Ironic Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 1:38 pm

  57. Its a legitimate hypothetical question based on the history of antisemitism in the world, even if strange and sloppy. Perhaps not in Illinois in this day and age would a Jewish candidate be discriminated against, but it isn’t out the realm of possibility.

    Not that SLC is right, but what if he were? What if he was run off because of his religion without the other baggage? And then what if he tried to run as a Jewish Party of Illinois candidate? His replacement wouldn’t need any signatures to show sufficient support to be on the ballot, but he would need 25,000. That might look discriminatory.

    Hypothetically, IF the Republicans, Democrats, and Greens were all antisemitic, it would appear like a Jewish Party was being discriminated against and would have a discriminatory effect on a Jewish Party based on our current election laws.

    Comment by TaxMeMore Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 1:49 pm

  58. For some reason the old Irving Berlin song “Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars” comes to mind. But I don’t remember SLC using it in the campaign!

    Comment by D.P. Gumby Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 1:59 pm

  59. Good thing he wasn’t Serbian Orthodox, or he’d have been impeached.

    Comment by VanillaMan Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 2:22 pm

  60. TaxMeMore… I just don’t get what you are saying.

    Anti-semitism, both conspicuous and subtle, is pervasive throughout the world. I just don’t see it in this case. Had the Lt. Gov. nominee been Lou Lang, Ira Silverstein, Jan Schakowsky, or any other of the many Jewish elected officials in the state, they would not have been pressured to leave the ballot.

    Comment by Just Observing Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 2:49 pm

  61. J.O.: excellent points! I didn’t even know he was Jewish until today….

    Comment by Vote Quimby! Friday, Mar 19, 10 @ 4:18 pm

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