Illinois House Begins Impeachment Process
By LIZ ROBBINS
Published: December 15, 2008
Illinois legislators took the first steps on Monday toward impeaching Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, six days after his arrest on charges of corruption and soliciting bribes that included trying to sell the vacated Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama.
As Mr. Blagojevich kept working in his Chicago office with no signs of resigning, the Obama transition team announced that an internal review found that the president-elect’s advisers had not been “not involved in inappropriate discussions” with the governor or his staff. At a news conference in Chicago to announce the latest members of his cabinet, Mr. Obama reiterated the statement, saying he would adhere to a request by federal prosecutors to withhold the release of the review until next week.
In Springfield, the state capital, the House unanimously approved a bill establishing an impeachment committee. Tom Madigan, the Democratic House speaker who sponsored the bill with Tom Cross, a Republican, had announced earlier in the day that there would be 12 Democrats on the committee — all of whom will have served for at least six terms — and nine Republicans.
"We’re going to proceed with all due speed," Mr. Madigan said at a noon news conference, "but we’re going to make sure that what we do is done correctly."
He did not call for Mr. Blagojevich’s resignation and was adamant that the governor would have his full constitutional rights in this process.
During its special session, the House also considered different bills on how to fill the Senate seat. Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat, introduced one bill that would prohibit Mr. Blagojevich from filling the vacancy and called for the seat to be filled in a later election.Mr. Madigan said the impeachment committee, which he called “a very significant governmental action of the gravest consideration,” would work on its own track. The committee members would work every day but Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to come to a resolution to recommend to the House, when the legislature convenes Jan. 15.
Mr. Madigan said at the news conference that the House had “been reviewing grounds for impeachment for a year.”
He added: “We never came to a judgment that impeachment was appropriate until the events of six days ago.”
Impeachment, if the special committee recommended it to the full Illinois House of Representatives, could take between four to six months, said David Yellen, Dean of the Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
“Impeachment is designed not to be an easy thing to do,” Mr. Yellen said in a telephone interview. Referring to the House Speaker’s forming the committee, Mr. Yellen added: “He is starting the wheels moving on what is a traditional impeachment process. He wants them to do it thoroughly and appropriately. It would be a matter of couple of months at least, before they got to the point of hearings.”
On Friday, Lisa Madigan, the Illinois Attorney General, and also the House Speaker’s daughter, requested that the state Supreme Court deem Mr. Blagojevich as unfit to govern.
The process in the Illinois Supreme Court could take less time, Mr. Yellen said, if only because a judicial hearing would not be weighing the evidence of Mr. Blagojevich’s arrest, only if he were able to govern because of it.
Mr. Yellen was not surprised that Mr. Blagojevich had not yet resigned, despite calls from President-elect Obama on down.
“A resignation can be taken as an admission of doing something wrong,” Mr. Yellen said. “If he is engaged in any plea discussions, being the sitting governor gives him some added leverage that could help him work out a plea agreement.”
Earlier in the day, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said he supported a special election in which Illinois voters would be the ones to choose a replacement for Mr. Obama’s Senate seat.
“We need to have that to clear the air," Mr. Quinn said after a news conference.
Because a special election would take time to approve and organize, Mr. Quinn said someone should be appointed to fill the seat in the meantime, so that Illinois does not lack full representation in the Senate during these tumultuous times.
"There are going to be decisions made in the United States Senate that will affect us for the rest of our lives," Mr. Quinn said. "Momentous decisions about war and peace and the economy."
Ideally, Mr. Quinn said, Governor Blagojevich would step aside or resign, Mr. Quinn would appoint someone temporarily (not himself, he assured reporters), and a special election would ensue. “If the governor does not step aside, he will get impeached,” Mr. Quinn said. “The governor has to understand, there is a freight train headed his way.”
The veteran Chicago defense attorney Edward Genson confirmed today that he will represent Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his criminal case. Mr. Genson has represented other high-profile clients, including R. Kelly and the media baron Conrad Black.
Monday afternoon in Chicago, Mr. Blagojevich was in his office, signing a bill offering tax breaks to filmmakers working in Illinois.
