No happy ending for Illinois’ lieutenant governor saga

Amanda J. Eneman

Rich Miller has a wrapup of the most recent development in the saga of Scott Lee Cohen, the pawnshop owner who was once charged with attacking his ex-prostitute girlfriend with a knife. The Chicago Tribune paid a visit to a “spa” — and found she’s still working there.

I feel sorry for this woman. Prostitutes are more victims than victimizers, as the facts in this case bear out. My outrage is reserved for Cohen, who has no business asking to be put in a position of trust.

While Cohen has not given a detailed timeline for his relationship with Eneman, his statements indicate that he likely met her around April 2005. Glenview police shut the spa down after the April 22 arrests, and Cohen has said that his relationship with Eneman lasted “five or six months.” The incident that led to the battery charge occurred Oct. 14, about six months after her arrest. She pleaded guilty Oct. 27 to the prostitution charge, meaning she was charged and dealing with that case while they lived together at Cohen’s Gold Coast apartment.

When the Tribune first asked Cohen about the relationship on Wednesday, Cohen said through a spokesman that he met her in a bar. But Thursday he acknowledged that he met her at Eden Spa. Cohen said Thursday that the first explanation was a misstatement by his spokesman.

That this guy could get himself elected says a ton about the electoral process in Illinois and the media. There are good, honest people who haven’t attacked woman with knives who can’t get on the ballot because they aren’t millionaires and they are members of political parties OTHER than the Democrats and Republicans.