29th Senate District Race May Take Turn to the Left With Late Entry of Gambling Investment Banker Milton J. Sumption

Dr. Arie Friedman, a pediatrician and veteran, positioned himself well in the months heading up to the filing period for the 2012 primary and so impressed the local GOP that, as far as I know, no serious potential primary competition ever surfaced, and now that the filing period is over, Friedman has a clear path to the GOP nomination with no primary opponent. That's important, since in the race to succeed retiring State Senator Susan Garrett, every dollar will count, and Friedman will have the luxury of hoarding his cash for the time being, as well as avoid having to beat up (or being beaten up by) any fellow Republicans.

They are not so lucky on the Dem side, though -- even with the early endorsement of Garrett, West Deerfield Township Supervisor and presumed front-runner on the Dem side, Julie Morrison, pulled a primary opponent in none other than Milton J. Sumption, an investment banker from Lake Bluff.

Sumption had an ill-fated brief run for Congress in the 2010 cycle, when he bowed out of the Dem competition once he realized he'd get his clock cleaned by Julie Hamos and Dan Deals. That apparently didn't stop Sumption from pursuing public office, however, and now he's back to try for State Senate.

While his resume describes himself as a 'business consultant,' he made his money as part of the 1%, interestingly focusing at least in part on the gambling industry.

In the prior campaign, Sumption took a lot of heat for parachuting in and thinking he could buy the election (as many on both sides of the political spectrum have done over the years, to be sure), as we see that much of his campaign fund came from himself.

Here's one blogger's perspective on Sumption back in 2009:

Milton J. Sumption announced this past week that he was withdrawing his candidacy for Congress in the North Suburban Illinois 10th Congressional district.

If you are scratching your head and saying, "Who?," you are not alone.

Milt Sumption is a 40-something resident of Lake Bluff, who briefly had a low level job in Senator Tom Daschle's office in the 90's, then made a small fortune as an investment banker on Wall Street, got out just before the crash and decided to buy a pricey home on the North Shore and run for public office.

As often the case with overacheiving business types, he declined to start with something modest like school board or even the county Board, but reckoned that only his rapier intellect could save the rubes of Mark Kirk's district from themselves. So he jumped right in to run for the U.S. Congress. A fellow has to start somewhere, why not the top?

But after spending a few grand to get on the ballot and accosting voters door-to-door in his posh neighborhood, Milt came to the sad realization that he had no name recognition, no base and not a snowball's chance in hell against the relatively veteran Dems, State Rep. Julie Hamos and perennial candidate, Dan Seals.

At least Milty had the good sense to pull the plug on his 3 month campaign whimsy before a bevy of political consultants could milk his hubris for all it was worth.

Ha ha. That blogger sounds a lot like us. Frankly, if we'd cared at the time, we might have posted something very similar, but looking back, this guy didn't cause much of a blip on our radar. I guess we were right.

In any case, Sumption's entrance into the race now means that Morrison has to spend money and likely tack to the left, as well as defend her record on public spending and job creation as a Township trustee in the face of Sumption's likely angle that he, as a private sector guy, is just what is needed to clean up Springfield.

It's looking better and better for a likely State Senator Arie Friedman all the time.