Sringfield, IL -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.
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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 impeaching the governor. Patterson, from Chicago’s Southwest Side, said after the roll call that he didn’t feel it was his job to vote to impeach the governor. He declined comment on whether he approved of the job Blagojevich is doing.
A Blagojevich spokesman said the governor will not resign. A 2 p.m. news conference with the governor is scheduled for the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago.
The actions of the House–approving an article of impeachment maintaining Blagojevich had committed abuses of power–represents the equivalent of an indictment.
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.
While the debate was free of partisanship, Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna was quick to criticize Democrats following the impeachment vote.
“After six years of enabling and endorsing Rod Blagojevich, the Democrats who run this state waited until Illinois faced national embarrassment to act and are now voting to impeach a governor they worked to re-elect only two years ago,” McKenna said in a statement. “To make matters worse, these same Democrats have fed this crisis by refusing to strip the governor of his appointment powers, and are helping to seat Blagojevich’s hand-picked and tainted choice for United States Senator.”
House members had expressed hopes that the impeachment would encourage Blagojevich to resign from office to avoid the Senate trial. But Blagojevich has resisted calls for his resignation following his Dec. 9 arrest at his North Side home on federal corruption charges, including allegations he sought to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
On Thursday, after the House investigation’s panel recommended Blagojevich’s impeachment, the governor said he looked forward to a trial in the Senate, presided over by the chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court, and “believes the outcome will be much different” from the House action.
who was the one guy who voted not to impeach him?
The one guy that voted no should be impeached.
Clinton was impeached and still remained on as president, why would Blagojevich resign? Besides his chutzpah was so apparent till now, why does anyone think he’ll change??
good riddance
I am confused.
I thought “Impeachment” was only a charge brought against an executive. Then after impeachment he could be tried by that body. From what I understood, impeachment was not a conviction, only a formal accusation, similar to an indictment. Isn’t some form of formal conviction required to remove a reluctant executive?
Will someone who KNOW this answer please clarify.
Doesn’t anyone know how to read?
to #1 : The one guy who voted against impeachment is listed in the third paragraph.
to #3, 6 and 8: Read paragraphs #5 -8 where the process of impeachment, and the follow up trial is spelled out quite clearly.
I For One Admire The Strength Of The Lone No Vote. Go Blago. When Was The “Innocent Untill Proven Guilty” Impeached In The United States
Considering that we are talking about Illinois, the senators which will be impeaching him are probably more corrupt than he is, and he probably has enough proof to blackmail an acquittal when push comes to shove.