Lt. gov. nod not about democracy

Although I personally did not vote for Scott Lee Cohen or Al Turner to be the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor, it is obscene for the Democratic Party to negate or override the will of the people.

The sole purpose of the primary election, after all, was for Democrats to select the person we wanted to represent us, our party, on the ballot in November.

With 26 percent of the votes, the people clearly favored Cohen. The people's choice, however, was not good enough for Gov. Quinn or the Illinois Democratic party. Come to think of it, isn't overriding the people's choice of Rod Blagojevich precisely how Quinn ascended to power in the first place?

Now, Quinn wants to abuse his political power by overriding our votes yet again to select a more marketable running mate.

Certainly, Quinn and party leaders would settle for the peoples' second choice, Al Turner, who earned 22.3 percent of the votes in the primary. No, not even the people's second choice is good enough. Instead, they insult all the people of Illinois by refusing to respect our votes.

This issue isn't just about satisfying Quinn's political appetite. This is about preserving democracy. This is about respecting the will of the people, the very ones the government and the party have been created to serve.

Dishonoring democracy for the sake of a "winning" or "electable" ticket in November would dismantle the very essence of our Democratic Republic - ballot integrity, while forever staining the Democratic Party as the Party of "un-democracy."

If the votes cast last February are, in fact, disregarded by the Democratic Party of Illinois, the impact of this malignant decision by party leadership will fester until it fatally infects our entire democracy, contaminating the entire Democratic party and beyond.

Geraldine C. Zaha

St. Charles