Once the golden boy of the Rock Island county Democratic party, former State’s Attorney Jeff Terronez is now the talk around the dinner table.
“Jeff Terronez made a mistake and he’s paying for it at a very high level, he should pay for the mistake he made,” said Senator Mike Jacobs who went on to say, “he hurt his family, himself, and her hurt the party he at one time represented.”
At the Democratic parties annual spaghetti dinner Wednesday night, Democratic leaders voiced their thoughts and concerns on Terronez’s punishment.
“I think what he did was a terrible thing, I think when facts come out it will even be worse than what we’ve seen so far,” said Representative Mike Boland.
“He did the right thing now in resigning regardless of what the charges were, it’s a real liability for county and he had to do something,” said Rock Island county board member Don Johnston.
Democratic leaders somewhat fearful the once dominate blue county will turn red come next election.
“I think if we Democrats don’t clean the house in the primaries, I think what will happen is Republicans will clean it for us,” said Rep. Boland.
While most political leaders feel voters will look at each candidate individually instead of by party, they hope the former State’s Attorney’s mistake won’t leave a bad taste in voters mouths come election time.
“This was a personal failure not a political failure,” said Senator Jacobs.
Don Johnston also responded saying, “Jeff was a friend of mine, is a friend of mine and he was a good State’s Attorney, I don’t judge him because he made some big mistakes.”