Posted by Michelle Manchir at 12:29 p.m.
SPRINGFIELD — After watching his own running mate’s candidacy implode in February, Gov. Pat Quinn today indicated he favors legislation that would require the candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as a team in the primary.
“That’s probably something that I would favor, but I want to look at the bill,” Quinn said. “Then the candidate for governor can tell the people who he or she wants as their running mate.”
The Senate sent Quinn the proposal Tuesday on a 56-0 vote in the wake of the Scott Lee Cohen debacle. The Chicago pawnbroker won the Feb. 2 Democratic lieutenant governor primary after spending more than $2 million of his own money, but quickly resigned after revelations of his tawdry past. Cohen was supposed to be Quinn’s running mate but now is exploring an independent run for governor.
If the legislation had been in place, Cohen would have had to find a governor candidate to team up with, which likely would have brought greater scrutiny of his background.
While Quinn said the team approach is “probably the healthiest way to go,” he might not be governor today if it had been law in 2002. Quinn won the Democratic lieutenant governor primary that year running a campaign against two lesser-known candidates. But there’s no guarantee any of the Democratic governor candidates would have picked the self-proclaimed maverick Quinn as a running mate if the team requirement was in place.
As it turned out, Quinn ended up as the running mate for Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed by lawmakers in January 2010, paving the way for Lt. Gov. Quinn to become governor.