Former Cease Fire director Tio Hardiman has announced he is
throwing his hat into the Illinois
gubernatorial ring. Mr. Hardiman is
likely to have a hard time gaining traction; his past includes a guilty plea to
a misdemeanor domestic batter charge and an arrest for another domestic
battery. His wife dropped the charges on
the latter, along with her plans for a divorce, saying she “want(ed) to work on
her marriage.” That was enough to keep
Mr. Hardiman out of the hoosegow, but not enough to allow him to keep his job;
Cease Fire announced just after his arrest that his contract would not be
renewed and his wife’s dropping charges apparently has not persuaded them to
reconsider.
When asked about his troubled past, Mr. Hardiman came up
with a reply that both clarified things and drew a distinction between Mr.
Hardiman and our two most recent former governors:
“The media, they like
to bring up things from my past. But I’m not a convicted felon; let me
make that clear.” (Emphasis mine)
Only in Illinois
is not being a convicted felon considered a salient qualification for
governor. And only in Illinois
does such a non-status make one a breath of fresh air.
See my two books, The Chairman, A Novel of
Big City Politics and The Chairman’s Challenge,
A Continuing Novel of Big City Politics, for further illumination on
how things work in Chicago and Illinois politics.
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