Scott Lee Cohen: I Was Kicked Out For Being Jewish

By Karl Klockars in News on Mar 23, 2010 7:00PM

Scott Lee Cohen may no longer be in the hunt to be Illinois' next lieutenant governor, but that doesn't mean he's ready to shut up about it. The reasons why Cohen got forced out of the race for Lieutenant Governor are legion, but leave it to SLC to come up with one that none of us had likely considered up to this point. In an interview with Chicago Magazine, Cohen blames his Jewish faith and a current of anti-semitism running through the state's political power structure:

Listen, I’m Jewish. I’m only the third Jewish person to ever win the nomination for a statewide office. And I believe that that had some influence on the party not wanting me...You know, being a pawnbroker is predominantly a Jewish business. My opponents kept attacking, kept saying, “the millionaire pawnbroker,” which a lot of people took as saying, “the millionaire Jew.”

Cohen isn't pointing fingers or naming names, unfortunately. Other highlights from the piece: a doctorial dream deferred, the child-support issue was a "misunderstanding," and he still considers himself a member of the Democratic party. That collective sigh you just heard was the Rich Whitney camp and the rest of the Greens thanking their stars they don't have to shake him loose either.