2008 U.S. Presidential Election

Blagojevich Removed, Patrick Quinn new Illinois Governor

Posted by John Publius Jr. on January 30th, 2009 — in Blog

Yesterday, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to remove Governor Rod Blagojevich from office. Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn was sworn in as the 41st Governor of Illinois.

This is good news for Illinois and for everyone concerned about “pay to play” government corruption. We will never eliminate government corruption, but it is encouraging when perpetrators are caught and thrown out of office.

Blagojevich chose to appear on many television shows rather than participate in his own impeachment trial. He claimed that the impeachment process was unfair and denied him the opportunity to present witnesses in his defense. His claim is false, only some witnesses were not permitted because of the ongoing criminal investigation. Many analysts believe that Blago was purposely attempting to “taint the jury pool” for his upcoming criminal trial, and of course, this may be true. He probably was also motivated to improve his public image, at least in the eyes of his family and the handful of remaining supporters.

Based on what we, the public, know so far about the Blagojevich criminal case, it is uncertain that Blago actually violated any laws. The Illinois legislature has much more leeway to impeach and remove a Governor than a criminal court has to convict someone of a crime. Impeachment is usually politically motivated. Over the years, Blagojevich made it impossible for the state legislature to work with him. The allegations of Blago’s “pay to play” deals were sufficient to move the legislature to act. Impeachment should be used sparingly, and Blagojevich is the first Governor of Illinois ever impeached.

Blagojevich has many more rights to defend himself in his criminal trial. My guess is that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has plenty of evidence to convict Blagojevich on criminal government corruption charges. I am less concerned about this because I am mainly happy that Illinois now has a legitimate Governor. If Blago broke any laws, he should serve time in prison, obviously. I am interested to see if any other politicians will be indicted for involvement with Blago.

Political deals and fundraising happen every day in all levels of government. The Blagojevich case is interesting because it raises the question of where is the line between legitimate deal-making and criminal “pay to play” corruption. For example, the National Rifle Association (NRA) or a labor union may donate campaign contributions to a candidate that supports sympathetic positions on issues. For better or worse, this is every day legal politics. The Blagojevich case includes allegations of: selling a U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, supporting specific legislation on the condition of donations (Children’s Memorial Hospital), and government approval on the condition of firing editorial writers (Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Cubs deal). If any of these allegations are true (probably each is true), then Blagojevich clearly crossed the line into criminality. The line is often fuzzy, and additional ethics and campaign finance reform measures are needed to make the line clearer. Politicians should always avoid even the perception of impropriety to make sure they are always on the clean side of the line.

The Blagojevich case also raises the issue of whether Governors should have the power to appoint U.S. Senators in the event of a vacant seat. When in doubt, I generally believe “let the people decide”. U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) is proposing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to change the rule to mandate that special elections always take place to fill vacant U.S. Senate seats. I hope this amendment is enacted quickly, before we face another fiasco.

In Illinois, we feel as if a big weight has been lifted. We can move forward finally. Pat Quinn has an excellent reputation and has a sincere desire to run effective government. He can and will work with other elected officials to address the many important tasks facing our state. The next election for Illinios Governor is in 2010. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out when the voters finally have their say. My guess is that by 2010, Illinois voters will focus on economic issues and look to elect the person with the best plan to reduce unemployment and hold the line on taxes.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 11:03 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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