Illinois moves against governor
House takes steps to impeachment
CHICAGO - Illinois lawmakers will take the first steps toward the potential removal of Governor Rod Blagojevich today, when a bipartisan impeachment committee meets to seek evidence of the Democrat's official misconduct.
House Speaker Michael J. Madigan said the committee of inquiry, created six days after Blagojevich's arrest on public corruption charges, intends to work quickly, mindful that state government is virtually paralyzed and that President-elect Barack Obama's former Senate seat remains empty.
As legislators met in special session to consider the governor's fate and navigate the suddenly complex task of filling Obama's seat, Blagojevich maintained his public silence. He reported to his Chicago office and gave no hint of his plans.
Madigan's decision to create a 21-member impeachment committee of 12 Democrats and nine Republicans signaled that lawmakers do not intend to wait for Blagojevich to resign, as the state faces a billion-dollar budget crisis and pressure to name a successor to Obama.
Yet it remained unclear what evidence would be available to the committee or how long the inquiry and a potential trial in the state Senate could take, if the committee recommends impeachment and lawmakers pursue his removal.
US Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who said he moved quickly last week to arrest the governor before he could commit a number of potential crimes, is focused on building the strongest possible criminal case. Details of influence-peddling inside the Blagojevich administration emerged from the trial of convicted fund-raiser Antoin Rezko, but the governor was not charged in that indictment.
Madigan, a Democrat, said lawmakers would ask Fitzgerald and his team "for whatever information they deem appropriate" for the Springfield hearings. The speaker, a onetime Blagojevich supporter who has become a fierce foe, said legislators have been reviewing impeachment possibilities for about a year and would not be disappointed if the governor simply quit.
"We plan to proceed without delay," Madigan said. "What we are doing is preparing for a trial in the Senate. We are going to proceed with all due speed, but we are going to make sure that what we do is done correctly."
The impeachment committee will be chaired by state Senator Barbara Flynn Currie, a Democrat, who told reporters, "This is not a kangaroo court." Blagojevich will be invited to appear and to send an advocate to direct testimony and confront witnesses.
If Blagojevich chooses to play a role, Madigan said, the inquiry will take longer.
The governor has met several times in recent days with Chicago criminal defense lawyer Ed Genson, whose client list includes singer R. Kelly and convicted former media baron Conrad Black.
Pursuing another tack, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the speaker's daughter and also a Democrat, has filed an urgent motion asking the Illinois Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich unfit to serve, while Democrats across the country, including Obama and every Senate Democrat, have called on him to resign. 