As speculation builds about a possible independent run for governor by disgraced lieutenant governor candidate Scott Lee Cohen, we're hearing that a speech Cohen's due to make tonight "is going to affect the election this year."
That's the word from William J. Kelly, a former Republican comptroller candidate who then founded Reform Chicago Now.
Kelly declined to confirm whether Cohen would announce a new campaign at the group's first meeting tonight. Cohen could not be reached immediately.
"I don't want to make any announcements for him," Kelly said.
As doomed as it might seem, a run for governor wouldn't exactly be a surprise from Cohen, who was pushed out of the race after his arrest record and allegations of domestic abuse came to light.
He's made no bones about his beef with the party since then. In a recent interview on Fox Chicago News, he blasted U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias as a hypocrite. Giannoulias was one of several Democratic leaders who pushed for Cohen to drop his bid.
"I look at what people like Giannoulias have going on right now, and his scandal that's coming to light," Cohen told Fox reporters. "Where did he have the audacity to ask me to step down? ... He has many more skeletons that I'll ever have."
That kind of rhetoric virtually guarantees that Cohen wouldn't run as a Democrat. But other comments strongly suggest he's itching for the limelight again.
"I believe that I had so much to offer the people of Illinois," he told Fox. "I had the opportunity to help the people, and I — I guess I failed by not staying in."
Windy Citizen 