Over in my homestate of Illinois there’s a bit of a scandal going on over the democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, Scott Lee Cohen. Turns out he was arrested for domestic battery after putting a knife to his girlfriend’s throat. Oh yeah, it turns out that this girlfriend was a prostitute…

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I’m trying to think of a way that this Scott Lee Cohen uber-embarrassment could have been avoided but so far I’ve got nothing. The truth is that the lieutenant governorship falls into the category of obscure state races that almost never get the kind of vetting attention that could have averted this situation. People with lots of skeletons in their closet can not only get away scott-free, they can actually win elections if they make a serious play for whatever office they’re running for which is exactly what Cohen did. I got a lot of emails and at least three phone calls from his campaign even though I have never expressed any interest in the lieutenant governor’s race. Obviously, this was an effective strategy for Cohen.

Voters are far more likely to pick whoseever name they recognize on the ballot for the more obscure offices like comptroller or, yes, lieutenant governor. Policy stances and background are rarely considered. So the fault isn’t totally on Cohen, it’s also on the people who voted for him for not paying more attention, and the media for not digging when it actually mattered. If this had been the Illinois senate race or the actual governor’s race or the presidential race there would have been a lot more vetting during the actual primary. Now though if the Democrats are victorious, they’ll have someone who put a knife to a prostitute’s throat as the first person to step in should Governor Quinn not be able to serve as governor.

–Daniel Strauss