The Chicago Defender, a historic voice in the city's black community, is endorsing Pat Quinn for governor. The newspaper's editorial board lauded what they said was Quinn's "close relationship" with African-Americans: "He has made a point
of stepping up and considering African Americans for positions and he alone has
promulgated a plan – even if it means a higher income tax – to help get
Illinois out of debt and bring jobs back to the state."
The Defender offered some harsh words for the others seeking the top job in Springfield. State Sen. Bill Brady, the Republican candidate for governor, "has persistently
ignored the Black community – staying away from the debates at Black venues and
offering no evidence that he even knows the Black community exists."
Interestingly, the endorsement spends more words warning readers against voting for independent candidate Scott Lee Cohen than it does criticizing Brady. Cohen, the former Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, is trying to make inroads with black voters in Chicagoland. Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin recently watched as Cohen, "in the mode of a Bible-thumping revivalist, declared that
minorities are not getting their fair share of state contracts" at a South Suburban luncheon attended by some 30 black pastors. But the Defender writes, "A vote for Cohen
sends the message that the Black electorate is easily duped."
In other gubernatorial endorsement news, the Rockford Register-Star's editorial board recently backed Brady in "a contentious compromise." "This is not," the paper wrote of Brady, "a ringing endorsement."
