Ed Scanlan Says He Was Disinvited From Gubernatorial Debate, Implicates Hynes

Long shot gubernatorial candidate Ed Scanlan claims he was disinvited from a Democratic debate and thinks it may have something to do with a rival campaign.

Scanlan, an Oak Park attorney, told the Chicago Sun-Times' Abdon Pallasch that he was invited to participate in the Union League Club debate on November 18th. This week, however, Scanlan says the club told him he isn't welcome unless he can produce a published poll showing him with at least five percent of the vote.

The club has long limited debate participation to candidates garnering at least five percent of the vote, Pallasch reports, but they waived the rule for the recent Republican gubernatorial debate that included five candidates.

"I don't think an invitation was ever extended to Mr. Scanlan," club spokesman Dave Kohn told the Sun-Times.

Scanlan's camp, however, says it was indeed invited and blames state Comptroller Dan Hynes for the supposed retraction.

The cause? The Hynes campaign, looking to corral every vote it can against incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn, has already challenged the legitimacy Scanlan's candidacy petition signatures And Pallasch reports that Hynes' brother called Scanlan questioning why he got in the race in the first place.

Hynes' campaign denied asking for Scanlan to be disinvited from the debate.

The potentially self-funded Scanlan entered the race in October with a call for reform.

"As Albert Einstein said, 'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results,'" he said on his campaign web site at the time. "When I realized my party was about to send the same folks from with [sic] the same ideas to do the same things in Springfield again, I knew I had to step up and try to force a change."

He has had virtually no impact on the increasingly bitter primary fight between Hynes and Quinn since.

Comments

[South Side Sue]

When Ed Scanlon announced his run for Governor he said he had "no policy ideas" but is willing to spend $1 Million of his own money to win the nomination. Let's get real people. Why invite anyone to a debate who wants to be Governor but says he "has no ideas." The last thing this State needs is some rich person who thinks they are going to spend millions of dollars just because they want to be Governor.

[Pmg80]

Setting aside the 'old boys club' for a moment- I am particularly surprised that Hynes feels his best chance at the primary is to silence any other voices. He would not appear to make alot of sense For a Party that is trying to distance itself from an arrogant, machine-politics, blowhard like Blago- this actually feels like a page out of his playbook. The 'win at any cost' mentality has already cost the Democrats of this state too much, in terms of oppurtunity & respect. Comptroller Hynes does not seem to have learned that lesson yet. We should be encouraging any and all participants- with the idea that the next great idea might come out of their camps, even if the next victory speech will not.
->I thought this was Academic to our Democrats by now.

[Cogs]

The Union League is not interested in real debate. Hynes and Quinn are political animals and don't want to deal with a true reformer like Scanlan.

[Bude]

I've been to the Union League Club. It's a temple, built to worship the almighty dollar. Nothing these wingnuts do surprises me.

[TMc73]

And the worshipping of the almighty dollar crosses party lines as evidenced in the above article.
Can't say that I am either shocked or suprised.