* Subscribers were told about this a couple of days ago…
State Sen. Susan Garrett, a reform-oriented North Shore lawmaker, has emerged as a top candidate to become Gov. Quinn’s running mate.
She didn’t cop to the Madigan thing to me, however…
Garrett (D-Lake Forest) told the Sun-Times she was approached about the party’s vacant lieutenant governor slot by Quinn’s chief of staff Jerry Stermer and encouraged to apply for the position by state Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan’s political operation.
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The 60-year-old from Lake Forest shares Quinn’s liberal views, and the governor believes she could help articulate his message as the lieutenant governor candidate in what’s already a contentious general election battle, said the sources, who asked not to be named so they don’t pre-empt Quinn. […]
The senator said she would bring an independence to the office, along with her promotion of ethics reforms at the Illinois Toll Highway Authority, clean water issues, health care and job creation. […]
Garrett also has been an outspoken advocate on women’s issues, a demographic in which Quinn suffered some problems in his narrow primary in over Comptroller Dan Hynes for the Democratic governor nomination. A Tribune poll before the primary found Quinn with only a 38 percent job approval rating among female voters.
Republican governor candidate Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington is a conservative who has opposed abortion rights and expanded health coverage for women. Those views are considered a potential liability, particularly among moderate women in the still heavily Republican suburbs.
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“He and I are fighters. We share a lot of the same type of get-up-and-go independence,” said Garrett, who is part of Senate President John Cullerton’s leadership team
Thoughts?