Ill. Dems deal with another embarrassment

February 6, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

CHICAGO (AP) — Just when Illinois was starting to move on from the scandals of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich, along comes Scott Lee Cohen.

After the political unknown managed to win the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor Tuesday, it became widely known that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex- girlfriend — a woman who was charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.

Democratic leaders hadn’t considered Cohen a threat to win and didn’t highlight his past during the campaign. Now they’re alarmed that Cohen could drag down the ticket he shares with Gov. Pat Quinn.

Illinois voters pick party nominees for governor and lieutenant governor separately, but they run on a single ticket in the general election.

Cohen is refusing demands that he step out of the race; if he doesn’t, Quinn might have to change parties to sever Cohen’s political aspirations from his own.

Quinn was already facing a tough Republican challenge, and with a similarly tight U.S. Senate race expected, the stakes could extend beyond the state offices for Illinois Democrats.

Cohen, a pawnbroker and owner of a cleaning-supplies company, ran against several veteran politicians but spent $2 million — mostly his own money — on his campaign, more than twice as much as all his opponents combined.

He gained strong name recognition with a flurry of advertising featuring people who said they got jobs at employment fairs he had. He organized three in Chicago during the past eight months to a year, he said.

Despite the money Cohen pumped into his ads, Democrats and political watchers didn’t pay attention to his past because he was considered a long shot. Quinn said he knew nothing about the allegations against Cohen until after Tuesday’s primary.

Cohen was arrested in 2005 on domestic-battery charges for purportedly pushing his then- girlfriend’s head against a wall and holding a knife to her throat. The charges were dropped when she failed to show up for a court date.

The Chicago Tribune reported police records show the woman had been arrested for prostitution. Cohen told Chicago’s WTTW-TV that he met her at a “massage- therapy place” and believed she was a masseuse.

Cohen has denied hitting the woman and called their relationship “tumultuous.”

Cohen also has denied ever abusing his ex-wife, Debbie Cohen York. When she filed for divorce in 2005, she sought an order of protection against him and has said his violence was fueled by anabolic steroids. Cohen admits the steroid use.