Disgraced former Lt. Governor candidate Scott Lee Cohen may be planning another run for office, according to reports.
The pawnbroker turned politician, sources hinted to the Sun-Times’ Michael Sneed, could announce an independent run for some "high public office" in Illinois.
Rumor is he’s considering a bid for governor.
"She's on to something," Baxter Swilley, a spokesman for Cohen, said of Sneed's column.
An independent run from Cohen would undoubtedly take needed votes away from Governor Pat Quinn, which is the exact scenario the Illinois Democratic Party wanted to avoid by having him on the ticket.
Cohen was essentially bounced from the Democratic ticket just weeks after he won the Illinois primary for Lt. Governor because details about his past – including an incident in which he allegedly held a knife to the throat of a prostitute girlfriend – hit the front pages.
Democratic party bosses essentially forced him to step down, saving Pat Quinn the headache of having to campaign with a lightning rod. Cohen did so during a tear-filled interview at a local restaurant, and Quinn subsequently chose Sheila Simon as his running mate.
Cohen’s potential announcement could come as early as tonight, when he is slated to be a guest speaker at a new nonpartisan group called Reform Chicago Now, started by former Illinois comptroller candidate William J. Kelly at 6 p.m. tonight at the Erie Cafe.
