The Inevitable Happens; Blagojevich Impeached
Anyone paying attention to the Blagojevich Pay-For-Play scandal has known for some time that Gov. Blagojevich would be impeached. That inevitability happened this morning:
SPRINGFIELD—In a historic vote, the Illinois House has impeached Gov. Rod Blagojevich, directing the Senate to put the state’s 40th chief executive on trial with the goal of removing him from office.
The vote by the House was 114-1 and marks the first time in the state’s 190-year history that a governor has been impeached, despite Illinois’ longstanding reputation for political corruption. Rep. Milt Patterson (D-Chicago) was the lone vote against impeachment.
As much as anything, this was a vote of political expediency. They know that every day that they’ve got the Blagojevich Pay-For-Play scandal hanging around their neck is another bad day for the Illinois Democratic Party.
It’s difficult to imagine that Illinois machine-style politicians are repulsed by Blagojevich’s pay-to-play tactics. It’s easy to picture them being disgusted at Blagojevich’s arrogance in fighting these charges.
The impeachment resolution covering Blagojevich’s actions “show a public servant who has betrayed his oath of office, who has betrayed the public trust, who is not fit to govern the state of Illinois,” said Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, the Chicago Democrat who headed a special panel that recommended Blagojevich’s impeachment a day earlier.
Next week, when the Senate convenes, it will begin the process of setting up a trial of the governor in which each of the 59 state senators act as judge and jurors. A total of 40 senators are needed to convict Blagojevich, which would remove the governor from office and make Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn the state’s new chief executive. A trial is expected to take at least three weeks.
This might get bloody. If the Senate trial takes three weeks as expected, that’s ample time to air Gov. Blagojevich’s dirty dealings. Rest assured that the national media will watch this trial like a hawk, too.
It’s also looking like Blagojevich’s attorney isn’t going to go gently into that good night, which raises the distinct possibility that we’ll see some intense fights between legislators and Blagojevich’s attorney.
With drama like this, who needs tabloids?
Technorati Tags: Trial, Attorneys, Rod Blagojevich, Impeachment, Democrqts
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog