Brady: Simon’s No Game-Changer

by Bill McMorris, Illinois Statehouse News

CHICAGO – The Illinois Democratic Party is hoping lieutenant governor nominee Sheila Simon can turn around Gov. Pat Quinn’s fortune among women and downstate voters.

But the campaign for GOP gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington is confident Simon’s pro-tax stance will turn off the voters Quinn is targeting. 

Lisa Mettler, a small business owner and a campaigner for Brady, was on hand in Champaign on Monday to see the Quinn/Simon ticket roll into town as part of a six city flyaround of the state. Mettler said Simon was able to connect with some in the crowd, but doesn’t see her reversing Quinn’s political fortune.

“She seems like a nice enough person, I’m sure a lot of people respect her father (the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon), but I don’t see her as a person who is bringing people in necessarily,” Mettler  said. “ For one thing, her views pretty much follow Quinn on whatever — she supports him on all of his views.”

Simon is a law professor at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. Her political experience is limited to a past term on the Carbondale City Council and a defeat for mayor of the same town.

However, many would say her political pedigree is excellent: Her father also served as lieutenant governor before eventually making his way to the U.S. Senate, while her late mother, Jeanne, served in the Illinois legislature.

Dr. John Brehm, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, agreed the Quinn platform on taxes and Simon’s support of it could come back to hurt the ticket.

“One point of commonality that will hurt them is Quinn and Simon are both in agreement that we need to raise taxes to get somewhere close to a balanced budget,” he said. “I can’t imagine that will play well anywhere.”

Brehm, who studies political movements and public opinion, said Simon may help Quinn, but the bulk of the campaign’s success will rest squarely on his shoulders.

“We don’t want to exaggerate; everybody votes for the governor first,” he said. “The fact that Sheila Simon is on the ticket helps at the margins.”

Quinn is not polling well early in the race, especially among two demographics Simon serves. A Rasmussen report showed the governor trailing Brady downstate and among women voters, who support the Republican senator by 17 points.

Mettler said she does not expect Simon to help Quinn win over support among either group, saying the evidence can be seen on the front lawns across central Illinois.

“I have not seen one Quinn yard sign in the entire Champaign-Urbana area. I’ve seen quite a few pop up for Brady,” she said. “The women and downstate (aspects of Simon) does help some, but I don’t see that being a huge game-changer.”  

Simon replaced nominee Scott Lee Cohen on the ticket after Cohen stepped down amid past allegations of domestic abuse. The state’s Democratic State Central Committee selected Simon from a statewide pool of candidates on Saturday after Quinn on Friday announced she was his pick.

Monday’s statewide tour kicked off the Quinn/Simon campaign for the November general election.