State Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch made history and proved a point Tuesday in winning the Democratic nomination for governor by a comfortable margin over Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris.
Netsch became the first woman to win a major-party gubernatorial nomination in the state and pulled it off with a politically risky proposal to raise $1 billion for education by increasing income taxes while lowering property taxes.
“We held an election in Illinois today and the truth won,” a triumphant Netsch told a roomful of supporters in declaring victory.
Netsch called it “a somewhat incredible victory.”
The Chicago Democrat prevailed with 45 percent to 35 percent for Burris and 15 percent for Cook County Board President Richard Phelan, with 96 percent of the unofficial vote reported.
Netsch cobbled together her winning margin by carrying the Chicago suburbs and Downstate by comfortable margins and by running almost even with Burris in the city of Chicago.
She advances to challenge Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, who turned aside a GOP primary challenge from Jack Roeser, in the Nov. 8 general election.
The two gubernatorial nominees wasted no time in engaging the general election campaign.
Brandishing a pool cue that became the trademark of the memorable “straight shooter” TV ads that catapulted Netsch into contention, she gleefully gave an “I-told-ya-so” to skeptics of her campaign strategy.
Voters, Netsch said, “were ready for a governor who will take charge, get serious and tell it like it is. I intend to be that governor. I’ve made a solemn pact with you to change politics in Illinois.”
In his victory speech, Edgar said he had put Illinois’ fiscal house in order, then promptly took a dig at Netsch’s plan to raise state income taxes, foreshadowing the long race to come.
“We cannot continue to ask more and more of the taxpayer in this state,” Edgar said.
Democrats, meantime, staved off another embarrassment at the hands of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche’s followers, defeating those candidates for lieutenant governor and comptroller in dangerously low-profile campaigns.
State Sen. Penny Severns of Decatur won the nomination as the Democratic running mate, and Kane County Coroner Mary Lou Kearns and state Sen. Earlean Collins of Chicago were locked in a tight race to be the nominee to replace Netsch as comptroller.
In the primaries to succeed Burris as attorney general, Du Page County State’s Atty. Jim Ryan defeated Metra Chairman Jeffrey Ladd for the GOP nomination and Winnetka lawyer Albert Hofeld won the Democratic race over former Chicago Ald. Martin Oberman.
State Treasurer Patrick Quinn claimed the Democratic nomination for secretary of state over state Sen. Denny Jacobs of East Moline and will challenge incumbent Republican George Ryan in the fall.
Nancy Drew Sheehan, a Water Reclamation District commissioner, defeated her only opposition, LaRouche backer Thomas Beaudette, in the Democratic primary for treasurer.
Voter turnout for the non-presidential primary was as lackluster as election authorities had predicted. Just 29 percent of the state’s 6.1 million registered voters went to the polls, according to the State Board of Elections.
In accepting the gracious concessions of Burris and Phelan late Tuesday evening, Netsch called for Democratic unity behind a common goal of defeating Edgar, who is in his first term, and ending 18 years of Republican control of the governor’s office.
“We have an alternative to his lack of leadership, and we can point to a new direction. But it requires all of us to be working together,” Netsch said.
But there were indications that a unified Democratic Party is easier said than done.
Severns distanced herself from Netsch’s fiscal proposal, while Burris ended the night with a cautionary note about how Edgar and other Republicans will attack a plan to raise taxes.
“They’re going to take Netsch and that plan and make mincemeat out of her,” Burris told reporters.
Burris also acknowledged that his own political career is likely over after two decades.
“The voters of Illinois in the Democratic primary have spoken,” Burris told supporters in a concession speech. “Roland Burris’ illustrious political career will soon come to an end.”
Burris said Netsch’s now famous pool ad was the turning point of the race.
“This whole campaign turned on that commercial of Dawn Netsch shooting pool,” Burris said. Burris and Phelan had assailed the ad as a gimmicky distraction to what they said would be a 42 percent income-tax hike.
As Phelan’s running mate in the separate primary for lieutenant governor, Severns has made some stinging attacks on Netsch’s plan and late Tuesday refused to embrace the proposal.
“I think Jim Edgar makes it very easy for Democrats to unite, to get behind the ticket,” Severns said. “I’ll make a compelling argument for Dawn Clark Netsch.”
As a member of the state Senate since 1987, Severns served with Netsch, who spent 18 years in the Senate before her election in 1990 as the state’s first female constitutional officer.
“I’m always willing to talk about it,” Severns said of the Netsch plan. Last week she had predicted Netsch would be “strangled” with the tax-and-education proposal if nominated and declared it cannot pass the General Assembly.
Severns downplayed reports that she and Netsch will be at odds. “I think friction is too strong of a word,” she said. “I think Dawn Netsch and I have always said that differences in public policy are fair game.”
Netsch also downplayed any problems.
“Penny and I have known one another a long time,” Netsch said. “We’ve worked on a lot of things together. I’ve had her sponsor some of my legislation in the past, and I’m sure she’ll like it again. She knows the legislative process, so I would expect no problems.”
Netsch took Tuesday’s results as something of a mandate.
“When I unveiled a plan to fix our schools and cut propety taxes and, yes, said how I would pay for it, the political insiders said I could never win this primary,” Netsch said. “They said it was suicide to level with the voters and propose bold and very specific solutions. The voters saw it differently.
“They were ready for a governor who will take charge, get serious and tell it like it is. I happen to be that governor.
“I made a solemn pact with you to change politics in Illinois, to skip the sound bites and the easy answers and to tell it to you straight,” Netsch told a crowd in the Midland Hotel. “With this victory, I think we have already changed politics as ususal.”
Edgar later issued a statement that characterized Netsch as “a classic tax-and-spend liberal.”
Netsch, Edgar said, “has demonstrated throughout her career in public office and during her campaign for governor that she believes in increasing taxes again and again to support more spending and bigger government.”
