How did Scott Lee Cohen survive the Illinois Democratic lieutenant governor primary without one prominent party official raising hay about his sordid past?
That's a question Democratic operatives and activists are trying to
wrap their heads around this week. And a good deal of blame is being
cast at House Speaker Michael Madigan, who chairs the Illinois
Democratic Party.
As we noted over the weekend, the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet described Madigan's stewardship of the state party as "awful." Speaking at a rally for Alexi Giannoulias' Senate campaign on Sunday, Sen. Dick Durbin — a frequent critic
of the state party infrastructure — said that the speaker needs to
have "a much better process in place so that we know the backgrounds of
all candidates as they put themselves up to be Democrats." Via Capitol Fax, watch the senator's remarks:
Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward), who serves as a state party
committeeman for the 4th Congressional District, offered a similar take
this afternoon. "You obviously don't want to have a party bullying
people on or off a ballot," he told us. "But it's the responsibility
of a party to vet, factually, the biographies of candidates. In this
case, it didn't happen."
This line of criticism certainly has merit. After all, scrutinizing potential candidates is routine in neighboring states.
For instance, a source close to the Michigan Democratic Party told
us today that leaders there conduct a "very thorough vetting" of
practically every candidate running for legislative or statewide
office. This includes opposition research and, if a potentially
damaging item surfaces, polling to test out a candidate's negatives. The source added that the party "wouldn't embark on any race without insisting that
gets done." If there is cause for concern, the Michigan party officials
hold individual conversations with potential candidates and other party
leaders are informed before the primary election or the state
convention (where candidates are nominated for the lieutenant governor, secretary of state, and attorney general offices).
As we learned in the case of Cohen, the Illinois party doesn't even
conduct cursory background checks on statewide candidates, even when
they are outspending the opposition by fast sums.
This contrast shouldn't really come as any surprise to local
political observers. Indeed, long before the Cohen incident,
Democratic activists have been frustrated with Madigan's operation of
the state party. We'll have more on that issue later in the week.