In the Biblical gospels, Matthew opines that “blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

In Illinois politics, the opposite is true. The parable would read: “Not blessed are lieutenant governors, for they are too meek to inherit, retain or gain the governorship.”

The good news for Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D) is that he will be governor sooner rather than later. Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich will be impeached and removed sometime in 2009.

The bad news is that the sooner Quinn succeeds Blagojevich, the quicker he gets the blame for the looming 2009 budgetary crisis.

The worst news is that, historically, the post of lieutenant governor has been a ticket to oblivion. Of the office’s 42 occupants since 1830, not a single sitting lieutenant governor, nor any of the seven who succeeded to governor, has been elected governor.

Quinn hopes to delay his succession until summer, so legislative Democrats and the media can pin blame for the state’s projected $5 billion budgetary shortfall on the “disabled” Blagojevich. State income and/or sales taxes will have to be raised, or spending and services significantly slashed. Quinn will have to stake out a pro-tax or a pro-cut position.

After replacing Blagojevich, Quinn will enjoy a brief “honeymoon.” But can he milk it until the February 2010 primary? His principal Democratic rival, Attorney General Lisa Madigan – daughter of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan (D) – will run for governor on an anti-corruption platform—and perhaps an anti-tax platform as well. If taxes are raised, it would be Lisa’s daddy who compels the Illinois House to vote for them.

The Illinois Supreme Court refused to determine that Blagojevich is “disabled.” The Illinois House must vote by a two-thirds majority to impeach, and the Illinois Senate must vote by a two-thirds majority to convict and remove. That will occur, perhaps unanimously.

Historically, two Illinois governors have been medically “disabled,” but neither impeached nor removed. One was indicted, but not impeached. There is no legal precedent that mandates Blagojevich’s removal. Here’s a look at past situations:

1860: Illinois’ first Republican governor was William Bissell of Belleville. A former Democrat, Mexican War hero, and political ally of Abraham Lincoln, Bissell was elected in 1856. He was also a cripple, and unable to walk, allegedly because of syphilis contracted in Mexico. He never entered the State Capitol, transacting all business from his bedroom at the Executive Mansion. By 1860, he was a recluse, made no effort to govern, and died in March. No attempt was made to remove him.

His successor was John Wood (R) of Quincy, the lieutenant governor. But Wood’s ascension was too late, as the Republicans’ convention had already chosen Richard Yates, a former congressman, for governor. Yates was elected.

1872: Richard Oglesby (R) was elected governor in 1864 as a pro-War, pro-Lincoln candidate. He retired in 1868, but ran and won in 1872. The legislature named him U.S. Senator in January 1873. His successor was John Beveridge (R), lieutenant governor and a Civil War general, who governed competently for nearly four years. In 1876, Beveridge wanted a full term, but Shelby Cullom (R), a popular Springfield congressman, was nominated by a convention, and elected by 6,798 votes.

1884: Cullom was re-elected in 1880. The legislature chose him to be U.S. Senator in February 1883, and he served until 1913, a record 30 years in Washington. Cullom’s lieutenant governor, John Hamilton of Bloomington, a protégé of powerful U.S. Senator John Logan (after whom Chicago’s “Logan Square” is named), took over. In 1884, Republicans, fearful of defeat, dumped Hamilton, and chose instead former Governor (1865-68 and 1873) and Senator (1873-78) Richard Oglesby, who won a third non-consecutive term.

1920: Republican Len Small swept into the governorship on a tide of anti-Woodrow Wilson, anti-League of Nations sentiment, winning by a record margin of 511,597 votes (58.9 percent). Small, of Kankakee, had been Illinois treasurer during 1905-06 and 1917-18; at the time, state law limited the treasurer to one, two-year term. Also, the treasurer could deposit state funds in any state bank, pay the state “call money” interest rates, and pocket the difference. During 1917-18, Small deposited state funds in a dormant private bank in Kankakee, loaned the money to Chicago meat packers at six percent, and paid the state two percent.

After Small cut the budget of state Attorney General Edward Brundage in 1921, Brundage indicted Small for “conspiracy” and embezzlement. After a 1922 trial in Waukegan, Small was acquitted, and re-elected in 1924. For two years, Illinois had an indicted governor, but no attempt was made to remove or impeach him. And, demonstrating lack of voter outrage, Small endorsed Oscar Carlstrom in the 1924 Republican primary for attorney general. He defeated Brundage, and was elected.

Small was an ally of Chicago Republican boss Fred “The Poor Swede” Lundin, the brains behind the political machine of Republican Mayor “Big Bill” Thompson, who served from 1915-23 and 1927-31. In the 1920 primary, Small beat Lieutenant Governor John Oglesby, son of the former governor, backed by outgoing Governor Frank Lowden (R), who quit to run for president. Lowden’s candidate for lieutenant governor, Fred Sterling of Rockford, won the primary, and was elected, serving 12 years in the post – a longevity record still unmatched.

Had Small been convicted, Sterling would have become governor. But Sterling made no effort to usurp power, or demand Small’s impeachment.

1940: Democrat Henry Horner, an obscure Jewish Chicago probate court judge, was the hand-picked candidate for governor in 1932 of the Chicago Democratic Machine headed by Mayor Anton Cermak. Cermak beat Thompson in 1931, and was assassinated in 1933. Horner won in 1932, but was soon embroiled in a feud with the Chicago Kelly-Nash Machine, run by Mayor Ed Kelly and party boss Pat Nash. In 1936, Horner beat Machine-backed Dr. Herman Bundesen in the primary, but Downstater John Stelle, of McLeansboro, also backed by Kelly-Nash, beat Horner’s candidate for lieutenant governor.

In 1938, Horner’s candidate for U.S. Senator defeated the Kelly-Nash Machine candidate. Shortly after the November 1938 election, Horner suffered a coronary thrombosis, and was incapacitated. He governed from his Executive Mansion bedroom, from Florida in the winter, and later from a Winnetka mansion. He refused to quit, and allow the detested Stelle to be governor.

Stelle charged that Samuel Nudelman, Horner’s finance director, was running the state as part of a “regency,” that Horner was “disabled.” Stelle proclaimed himself governor. The Secretary of State, a Kelly-Nash loyalist, refused to certify Stelle in Horner’s place. In late 1939, the ailing Horner cut a deal with the Kelly-Nash minions to back Harry Hershey, Horner’s insurance commissioner, for governor in 1940. Hershey beat Stelle in the primary, but lost to Republican Dwight Green in the election.

Horner died in October 1940, and Stelle became governor for a few months. Had Horner died a year earlier, Stelle would have been the nominee for governor –but probably would still have lost to Green.

1952: Democrat Adlai Stevenson II was elected governor in 1948 by 572,067 votes (57.1 percent), and was a cinch to win again in 1952. But he was nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate in June 1952. His ballot replacement was Lieutenant Governor Sherwood Dixon, of Downstate Lee County. Dixon lost to Republican Bill Stratton, age 38, a former state treasurer (1943-44 and 1951-52), by 227,642 votes, while Stevenson lost Illinois to Dwight Eisenhower (R) by 443,407 votes. Dixon was the first sitting LG to run for governor.

1968: Democrat Sam Shapiro, Illinois’ second Jewish governor, was born in Estonia, and came to America at age one. He was elected Kankakee County state’s attorney in 1936, and to the Illinois House in 1946. In 1960, he was slated for lieutenant governor on the ticket with Otto Kerner (D). In mid-1967, Kerner, after chairing a commission on civil disorders, was nominated for the federal Court of Appeals. Shapiro was slated to run for governor in 1968, and became governor in May 1968.

Incumbency mattered not. Shapiro lost to Republican Dick Ogilvie by 127,794 votes, while Richard Nixon (R) won the state by 134,960 votes. Kerner was later indicted and convicted for bribery and perjury.

1972: Paul Simon (D) ran on the 1968 ticket with Shapiro, and won by 96,421 votes. In 1972, he lost the primary to Dan Walker by 40,293 votes out of 1,430,093 cast.

2002: Corrine Wood (R) lost the primary to Attorney General Jim Ryan.

The scorecard: zero for 12. Five sitting LG’s succeeded to governor, but only one was thereafter nominated. Three lost primaries. Two lost elections. Two lost for U.S.Senator.

Historians will note that two recent former lieutenant governors – Democrat Neil Hartigan (1973-76) and Republican George Ryan (1983-90) – ran for governor. But they first “upgraded,” and won another statewide office: Hartigan as attorney general in 1982 (and losing for governor in 1990), and Ryan as secretary of state in 1990 (and winning for governor in 1998).

For Quinn, perhaps it will be too late to “upgrade.” If so, the state’s “curse” on lieutenant governors will continue.

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Russ Stewart is a political analyst for The Chicago Daily Observer.