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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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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