Illinois Governor Blagojevich impeached in 114-1 vote

Illinois' House of Representatives voted 114 to one Friday morning for impeachment of Gov Rod Blagojevich, putting the state's chief executive on trial for removal from office for corruption and other abuse of power. The full state Senate will now convene to act as judge and jury with 40 of the chamber's 59 members needed to convict and remove the governor from office.

The vote follows a report of a House Investigative Committee of 20 house members which unanimously recommended impeachment.

Rep Barbara Currie (Dem, Chicago) who led the investigation said Blagojevich had betrayed his oath of office, betrayed the public trust and "is not fit to govern the state of Illinois."

The Senate trial is predicted to take about three weeks. Given the virtual unanimity about his culpability his removal seems almost certain. So far Blagojevich has declared he won't resign but will "fight" to the end. Despite this churchillian rhetoric he did not even appear before the House investigating committee, leaving his defense to an old and ineffectual lawyer. So he may surprise everyone by dumping his churchillian promises and resigning after all.

His successor would be Lt Gov Pat Quinn.

Reagrdless Blagojevich's ouster is likely to lead to major changes at the Illinois Tollway which despite denials is deeply involved with the disgraced governor. The Tollway established by law as an independent state agency with directors serving fixed terms and paid generous salaries to conduct Tollway business independently, allowed the Governor to hijack it for political purposes.

Blagojevich constantly made Tollway announcements and appointments, and according to the US Attorney's complaint at the time of his arrest was shaking down Tollway contractors for substantial bribes.

Illinois government is the most corrupt in the US, with Blagojevich's predecessor Republican George Ryan currently in a federal jail serving a sentence for directing sale of truck driver licences for personal enrichment, and several other governors having been similarly convicted.

It takes federal law enforcement to punish Illinois corruption. The Illinois legislature never made any move to investigate, let alone prosecute Blagojevich until after the US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ordered his arrest and released a complaint detailing corrupt scheming Dec 9. That is probably because corruption has been a completely bipartisan activity.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-01-09