The Lieutenant Governor Brackets

The selection committee has made its picks, and now we make ours.

ROUND ONE

Play-in Game: Spiridoula Mavrothalasitis vs. Jasper St. Angel

Comment: Mavrothalasitis comes out of the Lawyer Conference, which is down this year, representing Jenner & Block. She is believed to have access to donors and is both Mexican and Greek. St. Angel is a top real estate agent in Rockford, which makes him geographically undesirable.

Pick: Mavrothalasitis

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Match-Up: Susan Garrett (1) vs. Play-in Winner (16)

Comment: Garrett is super-rich and chromosomically desirable. She might not play well Downstate, but she'll clean up in the suburbs.

Pick: Garrett.

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Match-Up: Art Turner (3) vs. Thomas Carroll (14)

Comment: Art Turner is a black man from Chicago, which is why he wasn't given the automatic nod that a woman from anywhere but particularly a pretty white woman from Downstate would have gotten. Carroll appears to be a Cook County public defender, which is politically even worse for Pat Quinn than a black man from Chicago.

Pick: Turner

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Match-Up Iris Martinez (5) vs. Paul Park (12)

Comment: Martinez, the first Latina elected to the state senate, would be a possible Cinderella story would her selection not royally piss off Quinn pal Dick Mell, who once backed a primary candidate against her in a maneuver to open up a state representative's seat for his daughter, Deb. (Don't ask.) Paul Park is a Korean-American banker from Glenview.

Pick: Martinez

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Match-Up Megan Drilling (7) vs. James Farrell (10)

Comment: Drilling is the founder of the 4M Group, which is WBE-certified, so she wins either way. Farrell is either the former chairman of Illinois Tool Works - and thus the bracket's resident rich guy/statesman - or this guy.

Pick: Farrell

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Match-Up: Mike Boland (8) vs. David Koehler (9)

Comment: Boland finished fourth - behind Rickey Hendon - in the original primary and thus has the stank of a loser emanating from his person. Koehler is a state senator and the co-owner of the Peoria Bread Company.

Pick: Koehler

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Match-Up: Lori Koziana (6) vs. Dean Koldenhoven (11)

Comment: Koziana is apparently both a lawyer and a school teacher. Koldenhoven is the former mayor of Palos Heights. Neither is being considered seriously.

Pick: Koziana

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Match-Up: Raja Krishnamoorthi (4) vs. Jay Rehak (13)

Comment: Krishnamoorthi already lost the party primary for comptroller, yet got seeded anyway due to the new rules of this year's tournament. Rehak is believed to be a Chicago public school teacher.

Pick: Krishnamoorthi

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Match-Up: Sheila Simon (2) vs. Dirk Enger (15)

Comment: Simon's dad was more famous than Enger's.

Pick: Simon

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ROUND TWO:

Garrett vs. Turner: The rich white woman beats the black man because Michael Madigan has supplied the refs. Garrett.

Martinez vs. Farrell: The white business guy beats the Latina because she may get uppity and Michael Madigan has supplied the refs. Farrell.

Koehler vs. Koziana: The bread guy "has a good story to tell." Koziana not ready for prime-time yet. Koehler.

Krishnamoorthi vs. Simon: The legacy vs. the loser. Simon.

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ROUND THREE:

Garrett vs. Farrell: Farrell's run ends here. Garrett.

Koehler vs. Simon: Koehler's story can't match Simon's name, gender or geography. Simon.

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CHAMPIONSHIP:

Garrett vs. Simon: Lake Forest money and charm eke out an overtime win against Pat Quinn's desire to associate himself with a legend. Plus, Michael Madigan wants it this way.

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Comments welcome.

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1. From Jay Rehak:

Just read your piece in the Beachwood Reporter, and while I don't disagree with your handicapping, I do want you to know that I believe we are in a unique period in the State's (and Nation's) history. We've got a $13.7 billion debt (and rising) and no one wants a tax increase. Politically, the idea of bring in the "same old" to fix these problems is getting stale. The notion of a citizen politician coming out of the ranks of working people is far more exciting than going with the politician's favorite choice.

I honestly believe the Illinois Democrats have a chance here to do something special. Picking a career politician to fill the Lt. Governor slot is short sighted. I call it the "Dick Cheney effect." You may recall that prior to the 2000 election, Dick Cheney was put in charge of finding a Vice Presidential candidate for then candidate Bush. After a long and thorough search, Cheney came up with his own name as the candidate. I think that was a mistake, although he did become Vice President. I'd like to think the process for selecting a Lt. Governor is not one that begins with a decision and then proceeds to a search. Such a practice does not serve the IL Democratic party or the citizens of Illinois.

Jay Rehak
English Teacher Whitney Young High School
Trustee of the 9.4 Billion dollar Chicago Teachers Pension Fund

2. From James Farrell:

While it is a great honor to be in the company of the accomplished and personable businessman and philanthropist, W. James "Jim" Farrell, I am in fact "this guy." Without commenting on your picks, let me say that it has been a great week for Democrats, with the passage of at least the Senate version of the Health Care Bill. In my little world, that means lots of traffic to one page of my blog in particular, "An Explanation of the Health Care Bill," which summarizes the Senate bills as they existed in July, 2009. That post reached the front page of the search engines (try "health care bill unbiased explanation") and has had about 1,400 hits to date - 300 since Saturday.

That guy.

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