Duckworth says no to Quinn, won't run for lt. governor

SPRINGFIELD -- Hoffman Estates Democrat Tammy Duckworth has declined the governor's invitation to run as his lieutenant governor nominee in the upcoming elections.

Gov. Pat Quinn told reporters Tuesday that Duckworth had informed him she would stay on as an assistant secretary at the U.S. Veterans Affairs Department in Washington. Quinn said Duckworth felt obligated to continue with the mission given to her by President Obama.

Quinn, a strong advocate on veterans issues, said when Duckworth left her post as the state's director of veterans affairs for the federal job, she told him if something like the lieutenant governor position ever came open to think of her.

In the aftermath of lieutenant governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen abandoning his bid for office amid scandal, Quinn said he quickly thought of Duckworth to fill the vacant ballot spot along side his name in November. He said he'd talked to her in recent days and she "agonized" over the decision, but opted out of the state campaign.

"I think the world of Tammy Duckworth," he told reporters.

Duckworth lost both her legs and partial use of one arm in a rocket-propelled grenade attack while serving in Iraq in 2004. She ran for Congress as a Democrat in 2006 but lost.

Illinois Democratic Party leaders are weighing their options on a replacement for Cohen, who bowed out after allegations of domestic abuse and illegal drug use emerged from divorce files.