Alternatives are fleeting in Illinois gubernatorial politics

Originally bpublished in Peoria Pundit on Jan. 1, 2006.

Yes. It's true. If you pick up a copy of The Community Word now on the stands at fine establishments everywhere, you will see that I wrote a column endorsing Edwin Eisendrath, who is challenging current Gov. Rod Blagojevich for the Democratic nomination.

Heh. Yeah. Seriously.

My column points out several very good reasons for this decision. First and foremost, he's not Blagojevich. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald might even have the guy indicted before the primary, and Eisendrath is as good a replacement as any on the ticket should Blago be rendered damaged goods before the primary. And second, Eisendrath is not Judy Baar Topinka, the frontrunner for the Republican nomination. That Blagojevich is corrupt is a given, but Topinka is also as dirty as they come. She's been caught ordering government employees in the State Treasurer's office to do political work on state time, which is a no-no. She has her snout buried so far into the trough, she has to dig the slop out of her ears.

I know very little about Eisendrath. It doesn't matter. I endorsed him as a protest candidate, even though there's just a little hope he'll actually be head of the ticket. House Speaker Michael Madigan would never let that happen. Even if the haul Blago off the the federal pen, the Democrats will find some way to make sure one of their own gets plastered onto the ticket.

However, not four hours after the deadline for this column passed, I learned that Peorian Jeff Trigg had filed a petition to run for governor in the Nov. 7 general election. By running as an independent, he was able to bypass the March 21 primary election. Trigg is the former executive director of the Libertarian Party of Illinois and had been planning a run for governor on that party ticket. But the LPI decided to not field a slate of candidates because of lack of funds and the massive number of signatures they would need on their petitions.

Woo Hoo! Now here's a candidate I can get behind. I burned by LP membership card after Sept. 11. But I'll certainly endorse Trigg over any of these other schmucks.

But It's not going to be. Trigg told me that that was going to wait and see if anyone challenged his petition. And that's exactly what happened. A man named Alcides F. Espinal or 2035 W. Walton in Chicago filed an objection on Dec. 27. From what I've been able to find out, Mr. Espinal is the director of Future Teachers of America. I don't want to prejudge, but I'm fairly certain that he doesn't have enough signatures. Even if he did, they would say he didn't, if you know what I mean.

This is Illinois after all, and when the Big Two put up candidates like Blago and Topinka around, they last thing they want to allow on the ballots are legitimate alternatives.

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Blagojevich, Topinka, Edwan Eisendrath, 2006 election, illinois