A
fter the political unknown managed to win the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor Tuesday, it became widely known that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend
- a woman who was herself charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.
Democratic leaders hadn't considered Cohen a threat to win and didn't highlight his past during the campaign. Now they're alarmed that Cohen could drag down the ticket he shares with Gov. Pat Quinn.
He is refusing demands that he step out of the race; if he doesn't, Quinn might have to change parties to sever Cohen's political aspirations from his own.
Quinn already was facing a tough Republican challenge, and with a similarly tight U.S. Senate race expected, the stakes could extend beyond the state offices for Illinois Democrats.
![Internet](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2010/Feb/06/images/ads/current/ccaonline_lda050208.png)
"It really puts all of us in jeopardy," said U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill.
Cohen, a pawnbroker and owner of a cleaning supplies company, ran against several veteran politicians but spent $2 million
- mostly his own money - on his campaign, more than twice as much as all his opponents combined.
He gained strong name recognition with a flurry of advertising featuring people who said they got jobs at employment fairs he held. He organized three in Chicago during the past eight months to a year, he said.
"Only one candidate for lieutenant governor is holding job fairs in Illinois," intoned a moderator in his ads.
Despite the money Cohen pumped into his ads, Democrats and political watchers didn't pay attention to his past because he was considered a longshot. Quinn said he knew nothing about the allegations against Cohen until after Tuesday's primary.
Cohen was arrested in 2005 on domestic battery charges for allegedly pushing his then-girlfriend's head against a wall and holding a knife to her throat. The charges were dropped when she failed to show up for a court date.
The Chicago Tribune reported police records show the woman had been arrested for prostitution. Cohen told Chicago's WTTW-TV that he met her at a "massage therapy place" and believed she was a masseuse.
Cohen has denied hitting the woman and called their relationship "tumultuous."
"I never tried to cut her throat," he said on WTTW.
Cohen also has denied ever abusing his ex-wife, Debbie York-Cohen. When she filed for divorce in 2005, she sought an order of protection against him and has said his violence was fueled by anabolic steroids. Cohen admits the steroid use.
"I never touched any woman," he told Chicago's WLS-TV on Thursday. "That's not my style, that's not me."
Cohen's campaign did not respond to requests for interviews from The Associated Press.
Cohen points out that he disclosed his arrest before he announced his candidacy and it was written about by the Chicago Sun-Times in March 2009.
His win leaves Democrats with little public recourse except pleading with Cohen to give up the campaign.
"If I was to say anything I would go back to the Bible: Let us reason together or else we might all be destroyed by the edge of the sword," Davis said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Cohen needs to step aside and the people he trusts politically need to make that clear to him.