Simon to use Illinois state Senate for comeback, just as Oberweis did

I wonder if we should start thinking of James Oberweis and Sheila Simon as the “Comeback caucus.” Or maybe more accurately, the “Desperate to Stay in Electoral Politics” caucus.

SIMON: Wants a political comeback

That was my initial reaction to learning that one-time Carbondale alderman and former Lieutenant Governor Sheila Simon has plans to run for election to a state legislative district from Southern Illinois.

SIMON, OF COURSE, is the daughter of the legendary senator – and former lieutenant governor himself – from Illinois, Paul Simon (but not the one who sang “Slip Slidin’ Away").

She was the lieutenant governor under Pat Quinn who chose in last year’s election cycle to run for state comptroller – a sign of a lack of faith in his ability to win re-election. Of course, he wound up not winning – so perhaps she was on to something.

Anyway, the woman now working at Southern Illinois University Law School (she has to eat) wants to be an elected official again.

Hence, her statement that the Associated Press reports says she will seek the state Senate seat currently held by David Luechtefeld – who has been in the state Senate for two decades, but has said he does not plan to seek re-election come the 2016 election cycle.

AS TO WHETHER Simon can win, we’ll have to see. For next year’s election cycle has the potential to be a big year in Illinois for Democrats. What with it likely that whomever the Dems nominate for president will be preferable to the GOP dreamer who manages to overcome Donald Trump’s money.

OBERWEIS: Used the same route

And the fact that Dems angered by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s anti-labor actions will be motivated to turn out to vote in ways they didn’t feel compelled to when their top pick was Pat Quinn.

Going against Simon is that the same Southern Illinois voters who overlooked Paul Simon’s Democratic Party leanings to keep re-electing him to Congress haven’t felt the same toward his daughter. She is a loser for a Carbondale mayoral bid, and also her comptroller post.

There are those who would just as soon see her wither away and never run for public office again!

SHEILA IS NOT compelled to do that. She’s choosing to use the state Senate (which isn’t anywhere near as prominent as the U.S. Senate, even though she’d be able to run around calling herself “senator”) for a comeback. Getting her back into office, from where she can plot a future run for a higher office.

 

LUECHTEFELD: Will retirement boost Sheila?

Which seems to be the same strategy as James Oberweis. Although in all fairness, he differs in that he was a political nobody before winning a state Senate term in the 2012 elections.

Oberweis was the guy who had run for seats in Congress, the U.S. Senate and Illinois governor – banking on his personal wealth to take him over the top.

But the only post that he has ever been able to win is that state Senate seat from the Fox Valley region of the far west suburbs. He was willing to give up that seat in last year’s elections for a Washington-based post from Illinois, but once again failed.

IT WOULD SEEM that Oberweis, a financier and chairman of the Oberweis Dairy family business, has found his niche in the political scene. He’s a “senator,” although not the kind he’d like to be. Instead of hanging around Capitol Hill, he’s at the Statehouse checking out the statue of Abraham Lincoln and fantasizing that he’s at the same level once occupied by Barack Obama.

SIMON: Will Paul help daughter at all?

Of course, Obama rose up the ranks rather quickly to the post that every political person fantasizes about having (and which few Illinoisans will ever be capable of achieving).

So if Sheila Simon is capable of winning that seat in the state Senate, she could wind up being the Democratic equivalent to Republican Oberweis.

Walking around the halls under the Statehouse rotunda and being a part of a somewhat-exclusive “club,” while wishing they were a part of something bigger that they may never achieve.

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EXTRA: Forgettin’ the home folks

How many votes did Democratic state comptroller hopeful Sheila Simon lose Monday night amongst residents of Illinois' Little Egypt with her wisecrack during her pseudo-debate during WTTW-TV’s “Chicago Tonight” program?

Both Simon and Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka were asked the proper pronunciation of “Comptroller.” Topinka said the silent “p” is a British holdover. Simon agreed, but then added she mispronounces many things, being a Southern Illinois resident.

I HAVE BEEN in way too many quarrels with Southern Illinois residents over how to say “Cairo,” “Vienna” and “Eldorado” – and who are absolutely convinced their regional dialect (KARE-oh, VIGH-enna and ElderRAYdough) is the only way to speak.

Then again, how many Germans snicker at the local “rubes” whenever they hear someone speak of Chicago’s “Goethe Street?” Named for poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (GUER-tah), they find it absurd that a Chicago cop  (back in my old City News Bureau days) once mocked me for not realizing it is spoken locally as “GOH-thee.”

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Lt. Gov.: The fight for Number 2; or, Why would anybody want it that badly?

It’s official now; all the Republican candidates seeking to challenge Gov. Pat Quinn in next year’s election cycle have a running mate.

SIMON: Any regrets?

Not that anybody of any significance thinks that holding the second-in-command position of Illinois state government is worth more than the proverbial “bucket of warm spit.”

THE GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATES are getting no-names for running mates – people who hope that holding this nothing position for four years could mean they somehow get positioned to run for a real office with significant duties in the future.

Although it is possible to screw up such a situation.

Take the circumstances surrounding our current lieutenant governor – Sheila Simon publicly split from Quinn many months ago, and has said she wants to run a bid for Illinois comptroller.

Which puts her up against incumbent Judy Baar Topinka – a long-time office-holder who’s just different enough from the ideologue Republicans that she can win statewide office even in a Democratic Party-leaning state.

CONSIDERING THAT QUINN is a 99.9999999999 percent shoo-in to win the Democratic nomination for governor (or am I being overly generous in saying that Tio Hardiman has a 0.0000000001 percent chance of winning?), he could have easily kept Simon at his side.

Instead, she’s a likely loser to Topinka – and may well have built up enough ill-will toward her that she will soon be a political has-been!

SANGUINETTI: DuPage powerhouse?

The funny part is that nobody seems to want to be paired up with Quinn – even though he’s a primary election lock for victory and has a very good chance of winning the general election in November 2014 IF he can play himself positively off the nasty negative partisanship that can all too easily tie up the Republican campaigns.

The only stories and tidbits we hear are from the people who don’t want to be Number 2 on the Democratic ticket.

TRACY: Bolstering Dillard?

NOBODY HAS A clue who will be paired up with Quinn.

So long as the Democratic ticket is “Quinn/_____________,” he can’t even start circulating nominating petitions to get his campaign on the ballot.

It also further enhances the notion that this election cycle is about the Republican candidates, and that Quinn is an after-thought – a concept that could undermine the advantages of incumbency that Quinn is counting on to get himself a second full four-year term as governor.

RODRIGUEZ: A step up?

Then again, GOP chaos could be intense enough to overcome that factor. Who’s to say how the voters will feel 13 months from now?

PERHAPS IT IS because Quinn himself is a former lieutenant governor (one of the few who actually got to ascend to the top post) that he’s not all worked up over picking a running mate.

After all, he’s the lieutenant governor who had it become public knowledge that his governor openly ignored him – going more than a full year without speaking to him about anything.

Part of that was just the bizarre behavior of then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Although it also shows how the post can be relegated to irrelevance. For her part, Simon has spent her time touring Illinois and visiting community colleges – but even that has to get old.

KIM: The Lt. Gov. top dog?

It may be why Democrats aren’t eager to be a running mate – even if it means being on a winning ticket.

WHICH IS WHY I find it curious to see the field of candidates on the Republican side of the equation; all of whom are eager enough to be a “nothing” politico in hopes that it will mean something someday.

From the newcomer to the group, Wheaton alderman Evelyn Sanguinetti, whom Bruce Rauner picked to help him steal away DuPage County votes from opponent Kirk Dillard, to state Rep. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy (paired with Dillard), former Long Grove village President Maria Rodriguez (paired with William Brady) and Steve Kim (paired with Dan Rutherford).

When Kim comes across as the most experienced just because he ran a token campaign for Illinois attorney general in 2010, you know this is a fringe collection of characters who want to be Number 2.

A post the Dems can’t seem to find anyone to fill.

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Will we be ‘begat’ a Daley & a Simon?

Bill Daley is getting off his electoral behind and kicking his gubernatorial aspirations into gear – he formally filed the paperwork on Tuesday that says he’s a gubernatorial candidate (and not just running an “exploratory” committee).

DALEY: Finally going for gov

As if Daley isn’t enough of a candidate with political family connections, we’ll also have Sheila Simon. Our lieutenant governor who doesn’t want that post anymore plans to rent an airplane and make appearances in Chicago, Springfield and Carbondale on Wednesday.

SHE WON’T SAY officially what she’s running for in next year’s election cycle; but we know her desires to run for state attorney general got dumped on when Lisa Madigan refused to try to move up the political ladder to governor, and she’s likely to run for Illinois comptroller.

A Daley and a Simon; it makes me wonder what the spirits of Richard J. and Paul are thinking as they look down upon us to see how we react to their offspring!

It also will give us a chance to see just how venerated the “Daley” and “Simon” names are these days, as voters in next year’s Democratic Party primary get their chance to determine if they want to continue the trend of political siblings.

For Daley (the son and brother of former Chicago mayors and the uncle to a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District commissioner), he has never held elective office – even though he has the titles of “Commerce secretary” and “White House chief of staff” on his resume.

HE HAS OFTEN hinted at wanting to run for Illinois governor, but has always managed to find reasons to back away from a campaign – until now.

 

DICK & PAUL ...

For Daley seems to be banking his chances on the concept that incumbent Pat Quinn is so weak and ineffectual in his political post that there’s no way anybody votes for him.

He expects that all of Chicago will want to have another “Daley” in office, and that the Chicago vote will dominate the Democratic primary turnout. Hence, he wins. Which is an overly simplistic strategy. Reality is rarely that straightforward.

Because while I’ll be the first to admit that nobody is going to get all excited about voting for Pat Quinn, I suspect that many people will be even more offended at the thought of voting for a Daley.

THEY MIGHT WIND up taking out grudges they held against Richard M. (but were too cowardly to do anything about while he was actually in office) on his brother.

... the 'proud' political papas

There also there will be the “good-government” types who will wind up seeing a vote for Quinn as voting against the whole concept of political families (which would have been Lisa Madigan’s biggest problem had she decided to go for governor).

Or maybe some will wind up backing the political siblings. Because it always amazes me how much many people whine and complain about the concept, but then wind up casting their ballots in support of it. I suspect the people who really have an aversion to voting for a "Daley" will wind up casting their ballots in the Republican primary.

Then, there’s Sheila Simon; who could wind up being the only person on the Democratic ballot for the 2014 general elections who isn’t from Chicago – she’s a Carbondale resident.

THE DAUGHTER OF former Sen. (and Congressman and lieutenant governor and state legislator) Paul Simon got herself into her current position because of the disgust felt by many toward nominee Scott Lee Cohen. This will be Sheila’s first attempt at running an actual campaign to get a nomination.

 

SIMON: Beating Judy in a jam session?

That has some wondering if she’s too inexperienced in the ways of politicking to be running a campaign for a statewide office.

She may well win the primary (I don’t see anybody getting excited over the prospects of Will County Auditor Duffy Blackburn, who wants the comptroller’s post as well).

But can she take on incumbent Illinois comptroller Judy Baar Topinka come the general election? It doesn’t help that the suburban Riverside resident is one of the few Republicans whom the Chicago-area Democrats are willing to accept.

SHE MIGHT BE the lone official who keeps the Democrats from running up a string of victories in 2014 that gives them complete domination of Illinois state government. Of course, we’ve seen how Dems are incapable of “playing nice” with each other, meaning that domination wouldn’t really mean much!

Although there could be a quirk that we’ve never quite had before – a musical campaign. Topinka is the “wacky aunt”-type with the accordion, while Simon plays banjo in a bluegrass band.

I wonder about the younger voters – particularly those 17-year-olds who will now be able to vote come the March primary. Will they think this is intriguing? Or will they view it similar to Simon’s own daughter, who (according to Chicago magazine) once referred to her mother as being in an “old lady band.”

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EXTRA: Run Lisa, run!!! Or, is Sheila the big loser of Madigan’s decision?

Lisa Madigan gained my vote for governor of Illinois. It’s just too bad that it was her announcement that she would not run that caused me to want to support her.

MADIGAN: Postponing a 'promotion?'

Her announcement Monday afternoon caught me off-guard. I bought into her previous talk that she would wait until August to say what she’d do – thereby causing a whole slew of other political people to have to wait before announcing the electoral intentions.

BUT SHE NOW says it would be a problem for her to be governor while her father, the mighty Michael Madigan, served as speaker of the Illinois House of
Representatives.

And her father isn’t giving her any sign that he’s the least bit willing to consider stepping down from the post he has held (with a two-year exception in the mid-1990s) since the early 1980s.

Admittedly, he’s getting up in age. Who’s to say how long he will be able to keep getting re-elected – unless he’s willing to go the Sidney Yates route. As in the one-time member of Congress from the North lakefront neighborhoods who was the butt of many “senility” jokes by the time he finally retired in the mid-1990s.

The fact that Lisa Madigan was willing to come out and bluntly say it would not be practical for state government to have two “Madigans” in prominent posts is a certain honesty that I’m not used to seeing, or hearing, from government officials.

IT MAKES ME want to have someone like her in office – and not just re-election to a fourth term as Illinois attorney general.

MADIGAN: Holed up, and going nowhere!

It makes me wish she were able to run for governor. Because a part of me wonders if she’s going to be in that attorney general post for so long (always being thought of as the “future” governor) that she will go from being the future of the Democratic Party to being its past – without ever being its “present.”

Such as the situation involving the one-time state Sen. Howard Carroll – who served in the Illinois Legislature for many years waiting for the aforementioned Yates to retire so he could move up to Congress.

But by the time that retirement came and his “turn” came about, another candidate came along and wound up winning the post. Which is why we have Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., amongst our state’s congressional delegation.

COULD IT BE that someone else will wind up coming along and swiping away a gubernatorial nomination from Lisa Madigan in some future year, because she felt the need to hold off from running in this election cycle – one in which she would have had ample funding to run a credible campaign?

DALEY: One less 'name' in his way

That will be the question to which we’ll never truly know the answer.

So now, we get Gov. Pat Quinn with one less opponent – and his primary challenger, William Daley, will face the same problem that Madigan would have faced. As in certain people not willing to even consider voting for him because he has a “connected” name. Although certain others will vote for him just because of that.

Personally, I wonder more about the people who were betting on Madigan to move up so they could have her attorney general post.

SIMON: What will she do now?

HER DECISION TO stay put may have ensured House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, remains in that post, while the big loser may well be another product of a political “family.”

Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon had already said she was not interested in keeping that post, and had dreams of being the “AG.”

She’s going to have to scale back her ambitions if she wishes to remain a political player beyond next year.

  -30-

The superficiality of government and public policy, as Simon likely tops Quinn in terms of public interest

Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday made a significant pronouncement with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius concerning the way that President Barack Obama’s health care reform will be implemented in Illinois.

SIMON: Looking to move up

Yet why do I suspect the bulk of people with an interest in public service or electoral politics will be more concerned with the activity of Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon instead.

FOR WHILE WE got to learn about the state partnership marketplace that will begin enrolling people in October, I suspect many people will find it easier to comprehend Simon’s uncertainty toward what office she wishes to seek than the deals of federal health care reform.

Simon on Wednesday held her own public event in which she said she does not plan to seek another term as the governor-in-waiting come the 2014 Illinois elections. So when Quinn proceeds to seek election to another term as governor, he’s going to have to have another second-in-command in mind.

Not that Simon told us what she wants to do – only what she doesn’t. Although she did pretty much confirm that all the speculation about her electoral future is true.

QUINN: Upstaged by Simon?

She may run for state attorney general or state treasurer – both positions of which have the potential to be vacant as the current incumbents are considering campaigns for the gubernatorial post. Or, she may take on state Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka next year, assuming that no one else tries to pre-empt her by seeking the Democratic nomination for that post.

IT PRETTY MUCH seems that Simon, the daughter of long-time Illinois politico Paul Simon and herself a law school professor (Southern Illinois University College of Law), has her fate in the hands of Lisa Madigan.

For if Lisa goes for governor (following three terms as attorney general), she would go for the post of being Illinois government’s attorney. If Madigan decides that a fourth term is preferable, then Simon goes for one of the lesser posts – potentially treasurer since incumbent Dan Rutherford is likely to be one of the Republican candidates for governor next year.

SIMON: Daughter following in his footsteps?

Ironic, in that a poll published this week by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute has Lisa Madigan and Dan Rutherford as the top candidates among those rumored to be running in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively.

Supposedly, 31.9 percent of Democrats would back Madigan, while 10.2 percent of Republicans would prefer Rutherford. Which might sound like much, except that it is more than any other candidate except for the “undecided” option that gets 53.9 percent.

FOR THE RECORD, Quinn was included in the poll, and he gets only 22.9 percent – which is almost double the support for one-time Commerce Secretary and White House chief of staff William Daley.

But Madigan wallops them both!

It would seem that Simon will wind up with her choice of which statewide offices she will choose to seek – which will be encouraged by the Democratic Party because there’s an overwhelming chance that the rest of the party candidate slate for statewide office will consist of Chicago or suburban Cook County residents.

MADIGAN: Simon's fate in her hands?

Carbondale resident Simon will be offered up as the “face” of downstate Democrats.

I KNOW I already have stumbled across some speculation that Simon offers little of benefit to Democrats – since much of the Southern Illinois region either backs Republicans or wants Democrats who are willing to buck the party leadership and vote like Republicans on social issues.

For all I know, they’re the kind of people whose reaction to Quinn Wednesday morning was to be repulsed at the idea that the Affordable Care Act is going to be the “law of the land,” even though the notion of some 500,000 more people having health coverage ought to sound like a good thing!

Perhaps if Quinn wanted some serious coverage, he would have had Simon make her announcement in conjunction with his event, rather than prior to a United Negro College Fund luncheon like she actually did.

  -30-

From family ties to old grudges, some things never change about our politics

It really seems to be the Chicago Way, even for those political people who – strictly speaking – aren’t from Chicago.

DALEY: Deferring to Dad/



I’m speaking of the fact that the offspring of political people tending to get themselves elected to public office much more often than the children of business executives or academics, or just poor schlubs with no real skills.

IT IS AN old trend that famed columnist Mike Royko mocked in his biography of Richard J. Daley (Remember all the “begats” from “Boss?”), which was written some four decades ago. It is a trend continuing today, as I notice many of the people my age who are getting elected to office are the kids of the political people I covered as a reporter-type when I started in the news business some two decades ago.

And it is a trend that will continue.

What caught my attention were pieces of reporting that have appeared in recent days, giving us the views of the “younger” generation of our elected officials. Specifically, I’m talking about Richard M. Daley, Sheila Simon and Roderick Sawyer.

In the case of Daley, the younger, it was all timed for the first day of Kwanzaa – which was the day upon which “M.” officially surpassed “J.” in terms of the length of time spent in office. Yet the current Daley went out of his way to defer to his father as the man who had the more significant mayoral stint – largely because of the times during which he oversaw Chicago city government.

WHETHER ONE THINKS Richard J. was “evil” or “heroic” (Are you one of those people who quietly cheers for the police whenever old footage of the anti-war protesters at the ’68 Democratic National Convention turns up?), his unwillingness to adapt fully to the times set the character of Chicago for decades to come – and which in some ways still remains.

Now I can appreciate the fact that Richard M. gets credit for “beautification” efforts in Chicago, helping to enhance the city’s image at a time when some urban areas are in decay. It was Daley who overcame the hostility and hesitancy of many to give us Millenium Park, which is a point in his favor.

SIMON: What will be her trademark?



Yet when I think of the two, I can’t help but think of this analogy – Richard J. built O’Hare International Airport, while Richard M. tore down Meigs Field.

I’m sure there are some people who are wondering if Patrick Daley is destined to run for mayor someday, and trying to figure what his “accomplishments” would be. I’m also sure that if Patrick were to decide that he wants to hold elective office when his military career is complete, the voters of Chicago would be completely sympathetic to the idea.

YET JUST AS a younger Daley is leaving office, we’re also getting a younger Simon moving into office.

Literally. Lt. Gov-elect Sheila Simon was at the Statehouse in Springfield recently, checking out the suite of offices that her staff will use beginning Jan. 10 and she becomes the woman-in-waiting – becoming Illinois governor on the off-chance that something should happen to Gov. Pat Quinn between now and January 2015.

Paul Simon is remembered by most people for his time in Washington – being the Representative from Southern Illinois, then later the Senator from all of Illinois, who wore those old-fashioned bow-ties and horn-rimmed glasses, while also being one of the most honest political people I have ever encountered.

That is the legacy she is going to have to live up to. It is one that I doubt any newly elected official could fulfill.

YET SHEILA SIMON, who until now had an electoral office resume consisting of one term as an alderman in Carbondale, is now like Daley in that she, too, is filling an office once held by her father. Paul Simon’s first statewide office was a term from 1969 to 1973 as lieutenant governor.

At least she will have a more significant role in that post than her father did. He was the Democrat who got elected along with a Republican governor – meaning that he was given next to nothing to do by deliberate design. If Sheila winds up doing equally little, it will be because she didn’t show enough initiative, which is something I doubt will happen.



SAWYER: How long can grudges last?

Then, there is Roderick Sawyer, who used to be a DJ at campaign events held by his father, Eugene, the one-time alderman from the sixth ward who became mayor between Harold Washington and Daley, the younger.

He told the Chicago News Cooperative how he plans to run for his father’s old aldermanic post – even though the incumbent, Freddrena Lyle, is in good standing with the political establishment and isn’t particularly vulnerable in this coming election cycle.

HE SEEMS TO think that memories of his father among the old-timers of the ward will get him some votes, and he’s also turning to former Sen. Roland Burris for advice – and possibly even a campaign contribution.

His potential campaign at a time when Daley the younger is on his way out is intriguing because it brings to mind memories of the circumstances under which Washington was replaced by an African-American official acceptable to the white establishment that treated Washington similar to how the GOP establishment in Washington treats Barack Obama.

Sawyer’s 16-month stint as mayor set the stage for Richard M.’s election. Now that he’s leaving, perhaps it is time for a Sawyer to return to the Chicago political scene. Unless the kind of rhetoric being spewed by Rev./state Sen. James Meeks, D-Chicago, these days  (“No African-American makes the runoff, that would be the worst thing that we could possibly do for our city”) stirs up enough resentment among the black voter bloc that they take down the son for the alleged sins of his father.

Which may well be the ultimate evidence that some things about our political scene just never change.

  -30-

EXTRA: Will Simon be a more effective lieutenant governor than her predecessor?

SIMON: Following in father's footsteps

Lt. Gov.-elect Sheila Simon is the daughter of a former lieutenant governor herself, as Paul Simon served in the state Legislature and as second-in-command of state government before moving on to a career in Congress – including 12 years as a U.S. senator from Illinois.

Yet in hearing from Simon on Thursday, I couldn’t help but detect a tone reminiscent of another political official, one whom she probably would not appreciate being compared to – former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

WSIL-TV, AN ABC affiliate covering Southern Illinois, talked with Sheila about her thoughts upon becoming the state’s lieutenant governor – at least in the opinion of the Associated Press, which on Thursday proclaimed her running mate, Gov. Pat Quinn, to be the winner of this week’s election.

Most of her thoughts (concerning patience in waiting for the final vote tallies) were predictable. Yet I couldn’t help but catch her comment about a residence.

“I’m not going to pack my bags and move to Springfield at all. I’m from Carbondale,” Simon said. “I’m going to stay in Carbondale,” adding she hopes to do a “good deal” of her work from her Southern Illinois home city – where she was on the faculty of Southern Illinois University School of Law.

Technically, she’s going to have to do something to establish a residence in Springfield, since state law requires all the constitutional officers EXCEPT governor to have a capital city residence (in the case of governor, the state provides the Executive Mansion for the governor’s use).

IT HAS ME wondering if Simon will go the route of Judy Baar Topinka, who back when she was a state legislator and state treasurer rented a cheap house in Springfield and furnished it with items purchased from thrift stores, so as to hold down the expense while maintaining her real home in suburban Riverside.

I’m wondering how long it will be until Republican partisans start denouncing her for refusing to live in the capital city, similar to how they used to jump down the throat of Blagojevich for thinking he can do the job from his Ravenswood Manor neighborhood home.

There is the difference that Simon is talking about living in a downstate Illinois city, rather than Chicago. So perhaps she will become the pride of Southern Illinois similar to how her father was.

Then again, Simon didn’t even win her home Jackson County (it was a 45-percent tie for her and Republican opponent Jason Plummer, although Jason got 23 more votes than Sheila). When combined with her previous loss when she ran for mayor of Carbondale, maybe it is a realization that downstate Illinois political people who want a future had better align themselves with Chicago interests to get ahead.

SPECULATION HAS ALREADY begun as to what exactly Simon contributed to the campaign season. Did she help make Quinn look a little more sympathetic to women voters? Did the tie to her father help make the Republican ticket’s conservative ideological beliefs seem all the more whacked out by comparison?

Back when P. Simon was Lt. Gov.

Regardless, it will be interesting come January when Simon takes the oath of office for the political post that set the stage for her father to start running for high-level political posts in Illinois (a failed governor bid in 1972, several terms in Congress and two terms in the Senate).

At age 49, she is young enough to take a future shot at some higher office. I don’t know if she’ll wind up rivaling her father as the most-prominent “Simon” in Illinois political history. Although considering that she and Quinn don’t have the same contempt for each other that Quinn and Blagojevich did (or distrust her father had as a Democratic lieutenant governor, paired up with Republican Gov. Richard Ogilvie), she’s bound to be more effective in the post than her predecessor was.

  -30-

Does Plummer warrant Lt. Gov. position?

While my doubts about William Brady’s partisan rhetoric about the state’s financial problems are part of my reason for opposing the GOP’s choice for governor, another significant part of the reason I’m hoping Pat Quinn gets his own full term as governor is that the more I learn about Brady’s running mate, the less I like him.

It is a juvenile sentiment on my part, It is spiteful. The part of me that is Catholic thinks I should have a serious talk with a priest for having such negative feelings. But the thought of Jason Plummer holding any government position – particularly one that could put him in charge of state government someday – gives me the creeps.

THIS IS A 29-year-old who is counting on the fact that few voters pay any attention to the running mate to get himself elected to a political position. Running for a lower-level position to gain experience would not appeal to him, because then he’d have to expose himself and let us all see him for what he is.

Exposure is something that Plummer definitely has avoided. His participation in the campaign cycle has been limited to the rural portions of the state at events where he only appears before the hard-core faithful – the GOPers so determined to vote against a Democrat that they’ll put up with anyone who carries the requisite “R” after his name.

That attitude was on display, instead of Plummer himself, when he blew off what was meant to be a debate between Jason, Democratic lieutenant governor nominee Sheila Simon, and Baxter Swilley, the man who is paired up with independent gubernatorial hopeful Scott Lee Cohen.

I’m not about to claim that Plummer and Simon need to be the political equivalent of conjoined twins for the next couple of weeks. I understand he has his own campaign activity to tend to.

BUT PLUMMER IS going about trying to claim that it is Simon’s fault that she is not coordinating her schedule to his partisan needs, and that if she truly were interested in appearing with him, she would adapt.

I kind of like the way WMAQ-TV handled the debate this week – putting up an empty chair for Simon and Swilley to debate. Of course, I’m sure he’s going to take this as a slight and claim it is evidence that he is being picked on.

If it reads like I think that Plummer is the kind of aspiring politico who wants to beat up on the opposition, but can’t take their hits back, you’d be correct. When it comes to the world of electoral politics, that is a serious flaw that ought to make one unworthy of anyone’s vote.

Because politics is about having to deal with an opposition. It is not (nor should it be) about being able to strong-arm the opposition.

I’M CURIOUS TO see how things work out Monday, where Simon and Plummer are supposed to face off against each other at WTTW-TV studios, with their “debate” to be included in the “Chicago Tonight” program.

Plummer claims he will be there, and I expect he will show (because I don’t think he has the nerve to be arrogant enough to skip out on this event). But I want to see how he tries to spin the circumstances to make it appear that he’s doing us the favor by appearing at the event – and how somehow it is Simon’s fault that the two haven’t had any prior confrontations on the campaign trail.

I also expect we’re going to get a self-righteous tone when it comes to the one ongoing issue of this year’s campaign for lieutenant governor – the fact that Plummer is adamant about refusing to let anyone see the personal income tax returns he has filed in recent years.

It has become a staple of government that our elected officials make copies of their returns public so we can see what kind of people they are associated with and what income they have. For some political people, it is meant to show evidence that their sole income is the check they receive twice a month from the Illinois comptroller’s office for their government duties.

SOME POLITICAL PEOPLE, including Brady, go to extremes to make it difficult to see their returns, so as to make sure that only the most dedicated of political geeks bother. Plummer won’t even go that far, claiming that because of his family’s lumber business in the St. Louis Metro East area, he has business ties whose privacy ought to be respected.

He’s trying to put a noble spin on the concept of “none of your business,” which basically is his sole reason for not wanting people to understand that he is a guy who comes from a wealthy family (in short, he’s not a self-made millionaire).

I’m a firm believer in the concept that elected officials give up some of their privacy when they go on a public payroll to do the “people’s business.” If Plummer had been able to accept that fact early on in the campaign cycle, then none of this would be an issue.

I used to think that the most stubborn business-type who ever tried running for political office was H. Ross Perot’s presidential aspirations of 1992 and 1996. But the fact that Plummer stubbornly clings to his concepts all these months later – with only 10 days remaining until Election Day – means he tops Perot, and is unworthy in my mind of a vote.

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There is just no pleasing people when the topic is the Dems Lt. Gov. nomination

We’re going to learn Saturday whether or not Gov. Pat Quinn was successful in strong-arming his colleagues within the Democratic Party of Illinois into giving him his way when it comes to a lieutenant governor running mate.

For Quinn on Friday publicly said he wants Sheila Simon, the Southern Illinois University law school professor who is the daughter of the late Sen. Paul Simon – who himself was a former Illinois lieutenant governor – to be his running mate.

QUINN MADE HIS pick public even though technically, the decision is not up to him. It is up to the Democratic State Central Committee – those 38 insiders from across the state who will meet in Springfield to decide.

Will Democrats, led by their party chairman Michael J. Madigan, decide to stick it up the wazoo of their party’s gubernatorial nominee by giving him someone other than his choice? Or will they concede that there is a certain logic to a governor having a rapport with his running mate – who theoretically is his successor should the Mighty Quinn, die, become permanently impaired, get impeached, etc.

I’m not about to predict what is going to happen, other than to say it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if the Democratic Party manages to stir up furious anger, no matter what it decides. Are these two women from prime Illinois political families destined to be part of the Democratic Party's team of candidates for the 2010 election? Photograph provided by Illinois attorney general's office.

Because this is going to be a decision that will tick people off, no matter what is done. What it ultimately comes down to iis a question of who do the Democrats mind offending the least.

WHICH IS WHY I am disregarding all the political punditry that focuses on how it is a mistake if ______ does not get the post. Fill in the blank with any name, and there is someone who will be bugged by it.

We’re hearing rhetoric already saying that Quinn’s choice of Simon is a mistake because there are some black voter blocks that prefer the thought of state Rep. Art Turner, D-Chicago, a long-time legislator from the heavily African-American neighborhoods of the city’s West Side.

Supposedly, Quinn is going to tick off the black voters of Chicago in ways that will hurt the candidacies of all Democrats choosing to run for elective office in 2010.

But if Quinn were to decide to go with Turner, then we’d be hearing from the people who say that his presence would be the force that would hurt the candidacies of all Democrats choosing to run for elective office in 2010.

SUPPOSEDLY, NOBODY WANTS a Democratic slate where four of the six candidates are black people – although I’m inclined to think that the people who would be turned off by such a sight are the ones who would NEVER vote for a Democrat for any office, no matter what the circumstances.

Excuse me for thinking that some people are going to find fault with anyone who gets named. And if Democrats were to make a symbolic gesture showing the post to be pointless by leaving the slot blank, that would tick some people off to.

My bottom line is that Democratic Party officials have to think in terms of the broadest good, and not get too absorbed with the people who want to complain.

Insofar as Simon herself is concerned, she is a somewhat interesting pick because (if selected) we would get a Democratic ticket containing the daughters of two of Illinois’ biggest-name Democratic officials of recent years.

WHILE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY General Lisa Madigan gets some grief from people who have their grudges against her father (mostly people who would never have the nerve to take their complaints directly to Mike Madigan, they try to take it out on Lisa), Quinn in part is hoping that the presence of Paul Simon’s daughter reflects positively upon all the candidates. Although, if I remember correctly, Lisa’s first spot on a political staff was working for Simon as one of his interns when she was a student at Georgetown University.

For her part, Sheila has one term served on the city council in Carbondale – although we’re going to hear a lot in coming months about how she lost her bid to become mayor and is nothing more than a law school professor at the definitely un-elite Southern Illinois University School of Law.

But she still has the name “Simon,” whom some of us remember from his own idealistic presidential bid of 1988. If we want to get ahead of ourselves, we could be setting the stage for a future political fight between Madigan and Simon (the daughters, not the dads) to see who becomes the most powerful Democrat in Illinois.

But back to the present.

I’D LIKE TO say it would be nice for Democrats to want to honor the wishes of their gubernatorial nominee – who seems determined to have someone of the female gender in line to succeed him – IF circumstances ever warrant it.

But then I realize that Illinois has never placed any significance on that concept.

Consider that when Simon’s father served his one term as lieutenant governor, he wound up being the running mate to Gov. Dick Ogilvie – a Republican. It was the only time that Illinois voters got schizophrenic enough to pick political people of dueling parties for the top two slots.

The fact that Ogilvie froze Simon completely out of his operations (not at all a surprise) was what caused the law to be changed so that candidates ran together in the general election. Although in tribute to our traditions, our state officials refuse to make changes that would have candidates run as a pair during the primary.

I CAN ALSO think of one other group that will be complaining after the choice is made – the Illinois Republican Party.

While Democrats have a chance to put together a pairing that could work as a team, the GOP is stuck with the pairing created by its primary voters. Bill Brady of Bloomington with Jason Plummer of Edwardsville is the ticket that might as well be non-existent north of Interstate 80.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: I first encountered Sheila Simon about 26 years ago when I was in college and she was campaigning for her father’s bid for the U.S. Senate, but never had a clue until Friday that she was musically (http://www.myspace.com/loosegravelgirls) inclined. Does this mean we could get a showdown between Simon’s banjo and Illinois comptroller nominee Judy Baar Topinka’s accordion?