212,902 reasons Cohen shouldn't have quit

There are 212,902 reasons that Scott Lee Cohen should have been left alone.

That is the number of Illinois Democrats who voted for him to be their lieutenant governor candidate.

(Disclosure: I wasn't among those who handed a 30,000 vote margin of victory to Mr. Cohen, so I have no personal stake in this. Actually, I skipped over the lieutenant governor's candidates altogether on Election Day in silent protest of the usually inconsequential state office.)

There has been some loud trumpeting of holier-than-thou horns the past few days, all sounding the same note: that Scott Lee Cohen, the pawnbroker, tax bamboozler, alleged domestic batterer, accused deadbeat dad, apparent liar and all-around threat to Illinois' sterling reputation and civilization in general, should immediately leave the Democratic ticket.

The loudest chant came from Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. "I don't know the man. I didn't vote for him," Durbin said. "I've heard enough. And if there's more - I don't know what it might be - but I've heard enough to suggest that he should have not run for office."

When did Durbin step from behind the green curtain and reveal himself as the wizard of Emerald City elections? Who is Durbin to tell 212,902 fellow Illinois Democrats that they stupidly voted for someone who "really should spare himself, and his friends and family what he's about to go through. I'm afraid the disclosures so far really disqualify him."

Actually, Senator, they don't disqualify him.

There is nothing in the Illinois Constitution that prohibits electing a pawnbroker, someone who has not paid taxes and then repaid them, a person accused of a crime but never convicted or somebody who walked into a massage parlor and walked out with a live-in prostitute/girlfriend.

Some people might have considered Durbin disqualified for office after he compared the American treatment of terror prisoners at Guantanamo to the interrogation tactics of the Nazis, Pol Pot and the Soviet gulags - but he's still in office.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan also said, "(Cohen) should step aside immediately. It is clear that he is unfit to hold public office. This conduct is inappropriate for a public official, and his extreme character flaws are an insult to the people of Illinois."

Attorney General Madigan, of all people, should know that Article 13, Section 1, of the Illinois Constitution doesn't mention inappropriate conduct, character flaws or that candidates shouldn't insult people.

Only Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley is sticking up for the 212,902 who cast their vote Tuesday for Scott Lee Cohen. "People vote in elections. Everybody knew he was a pawnbroker," Daley said. "You knew. The media knew. Everybody knew that, right?"

Mayor Daley may be sensitive to this pawnshop thing because he has sold off city property for far less than its real value, notably the parking meters and the Skyway.

That's just how Scott Lee Cohen made his family fortune and came up with the $2 million to finance his own campaign: by buying stuff from people who need cash fast, like Mayor Daley.

"He's already elected," Daley said. "It's a constitutional dilemma. Once you get elected in the primary, no mayor, no newspaper, no citizen can ask you to resign because I don't like you anymore."

There are many reasons that top Illinois Democrats want Scott Lee Cohen to resign.

He is older than 25; is an American and not really a citizen of Albania; and there is no evidence he secretly lived in Indiana the past few years. So he was legally qualified to be lieutenant governor and there were 212,902 reasons that he should have stayed on the ticket.

We will never know what really happened in his Super Bowl Sunday meeting with Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, a Chicago Democrat.

But if there was a deal cut to repay Cohen the $2 million he spent to get elected in exchange for him stepping aside, I would remind the Madigans, Sen. Durbin and Gov Quinn of one thing.

The Illinois Constitution does disqualify people from public office for bribery.

• Chuck Goudie, whose column appears each Monday, is the chief investigative reporter at ABC 7 News in Chicago. The views in this column are his own and not those of WLS-TV. He can be reached by e-mail at chuckgoudie@gmail.com and followed at twitter.com/ChuckGoudie