Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan, father of the State’s A.G., has summoned the body over which he presides back into session next week to consider the impeachment of Governor Rod Blagojevich.
A House special investigative committee weighing whether to recommend impeachment is scheduled to continue its hearing Tuesday, a day after U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald asks a judge whether the panel can hear some of the covert recordings made of Blagojevich.
Today, Madigan issued a letter telling all lawmakers to be back at the statehouse in Springfield on Wednesday. The letter says the House may be called to vote on the panel’s report next week. Madigan told his House colleagues they may need to be in session every day through Jan. 13
The letter is HERE.
Oh, someone will do something. And he won’t enjoy it.
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Dan McLaughlin
Neil Stevens
Daniel Horowitz
It's my understanding that Blago needs to be indicted
janis (Diary) Friday, January 2nd at 1:46PM EST (link)before he can get his hands on the tapes, too. So Fitz has put off the time frame for indicting him for something like three months, correct? And now Madigan wants to start impeachment proceedings by having some of the tapes played in order to get what he wants without having to take the chance that Obama will be sullied in the process.
Have I got that right and or is there something else going on?
What will the GOP do?
bk (Diary) Friday, January 2nd at 1:50PM EST (link)Suppose the GOP would rather see a wounded Blago stay in place than have another Dem take his place. Can they block impeachment?
Same story for the GOP in Washington. If the Dems try to block Burris but the GOP won’t go along, then what? I’m sure the GOP would rather have Burris in place for 2010 than some younger Dem who’d start running for reelection as soon as he/she arrived in Washington.
I don't think impeachment really
jdub19 Friday, January 2nd at 2:12PM EST (link)matters to the GOP, other than to mark one up for our side. Pat Quinn is a relatively clean guy…plus, impeachment or not, all that really matters is what PatFitz does, and who Blago decides to turn on in the end.
As far as RB…I’d say seat him. Even though he is respected and thought of as “clean”, I’d rather have his long career to target over the next 2 years than one of the younger, upcoming Dems throughout this state.
” Got to love the Lord for making things like that.”
Morally Compromised
As I've Said Elsewhere, The GOP Needs To Play This Clean
IJB Friday, January 2nd at 4:40PM EST (link)Any hint of “gameplaying” by the GOP will take the heat off the IL (and Washington DC) Dems, and right back on themselves.
So they need to play this “clean” – that definitely means the IL GOP’ers must vote to impeach Blago, even if that means taking on a tougher Dem Governor in 2010.
As far as Burris goes, the least GOP Senators can do is vote present. They certainly shouldn’t be on record as voting to seat Burris – that would be a travesty.
Well, they call for a special election, again...
cookcountyconservative (Diary) Friday, January 2nd at 6:47PM EST (link)http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2009/01/il-gop-leaders-continue-to-urge-special-election.html#more
What else can they do? As one commentor here notes – the Illinois Republicans “are in no position to take advantage of this gift.”
The best to hope for is impeachment with a nice constitutional court battle to follow. Then there is the indictment ahead with lots mudslinging and canary singing to go with that. It’s kind of funny watching the Madigan’s try to decide whether they should stand-up or sit-down with every turn of events.
In the meantime, we have Harry Reid’s armed guards to look forward to – not to mention that “Inauguration Day Demonstration for Roland Burris”.
At this point, I just wonder what the Vegas odds are on Blago’s life expectancy?