GARCIA SAYS LGBTS “SCREWED” IF QUINN LOSES
by Gary Barlow
Copyright by Gay Chicago Magazine
February 11-17, 2010
http://www.gaychicagomagazine.com/news/chicago.shtml

CHICAGO – While Democrats went into this past weekend trying to sort out their Scott Lee Cohen problem, Republicans were still waiting to find out if their gubernatorial nominee is Bill Brady or Kirk Dillard.

Either way, said the state’s top LGBT lobbyist, “We’re screwed.”

Equality Illinois Political Director Rick Garcia said Brady’s a “hard right” vote against LGBT rights, while Dillard seems more moderate but still votes against the LGBT community on equality issues.

“Brady is a hard right-winger,” Garcia said of the Bloomington GOP state senator. “He’s pleasant personally, but he’s an absolute no on everything for us.”

Dillard, who lives in Hinsdale in suburban DuPage County, isn’t the ideological social conservative that Brady is, Garcia said, but as a state senator he still voted no when the Illinois Legislature passed the human rights law that bans discrimination against LGBTs.

“Neither one supported the gay rights bill,” Garcia said. “Neither one supports the civil unions bill, let alone the marriage bill.”

Garcia said Gov. Pat Quinn, who edged out Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes to win the Democratic nomination for another term as the state’s chief executive, can be counted on to sign both the civil unions bill and the marriage equality bill if either one gets through the Legislature.

“He says if a marriage bill comes across his desk, he’ll sign it,” Garcia said. “He’s focusing his abilities on getting the civil unions bill to his desk.”

Garcia said former Illinois Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka’s big win to secure the GOP nomination for state comptroller was the only bright spot on the statewide Republican ticket. Topinka has long been a vocal supporter of civil unions and lobbied other Republicans for years to pass the statewide nondiscrimination law protecting LGBTs. Topinka easily outpolled every other Republican running in the statewide primary Feb. 2, capturing almost 430,000 votes, 59.2 percent of those cast in the GOP primary.

“Everybody knows what Judy’s position is, and once again she’s the only Republican standing,” Garcia said. “She wins in Illinois, and none of the others win. They’re talking to this handful of wealthy, white, conservative guys, and losing Middle America.”

As of Feb. 6, the unofficial count in the Republican primary race for governor had Brady just 406 votes ahead of Dillard, out of more than 760,000 cast. Dillard refused to concede, saying there were up to 11,000 provisional and absentee ballots left to count. Many of those, he said, were from Cook and the surrounding counties, where he would expect to fare better than Brady. At a press conference Feb. 5, he counseled patience.

“All of the votes have not been counted, so the election is not over,” Dillard said.

Brady said he’s willing to wait, but expressed confidence that his lead would hold. Counting the remaining ballots could take another week to 10 days, and state officials don’t have to certify a winner until March 5. Brady exerted slight pressure for Dillard to go ahead and concede.

“It delays our ability to move 100-percent forward,” Brady said of Dillard’s call for patience.

Dillard, though, said Illinois’ early primary left plenty of time for whichever candidate wins the nomination to mount a challenge to Quinn in the November general election.

“Our party is not losing any ground here,” Dillard said.

Garcia reiterated that, against Brady or Dillard, Quinn represents the LGBT community’s best option.

“It’s really incumbent on us to make sure we get out the vote for the governor,” Garcia said. “If the governor doesn’t win, we’re screwed.”

Over the weekend, Cohen acknowledged his past problems, but continued to reject calls from Quinn, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other Democrats to get off the ticket and let Democratic Party officials pick a new running mate for Quinn in the general election.Quinn is now looking to dig himself out of the mess caused when voters gave Scott Lee Cohen the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor in the Feb. 2 primary.

Late Feb. 7 Cohen stepped down as the nominee after stories about his past marital problems, including allegations of domestic abuse, a relationship with an alleged prostitute and steroid use, dominated newspaper headlines in the days after the primary.

State Democratic leaders are now responsible for replacing Cohen on the party’s ticket for the general election in November. There is speculation that Quinn could pick Hynes to replace Cohen, but other leaders are expected to lobby heavily for a Downstate Democrat to help balance out the party’s Chicago-dominated statewide slate.