* AG Madigan caused quite a stir on Meet the Press this morning…
“We have heard that there is a possibility that tomorrow [Gov. Blagojevich] will make an announcement that he will step aside,” Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” today. Blagojevich may take a temporary leave that would keep him on the state payroll because “one of his main concerns is his financial circumstances right now,” she said.
Scandal-plagued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich will not resign Monday, his spokesman said Sunday, but pressure to do so continued to grow on the governor to step aside before he is impeached.
* House GOP Leader Tom Cross was asked on Fox this morning “Do you have any indication at all that that governor is voluntarily going to give up any of his powers?” His answer hit it on the head…
“I don’t think anybody knows that right now. The ability to predict what he may or may not do is almost impossible.”
Cross was also asked why he thinks the governor is still “holding on” to his office…
One, by nature, he’s a fighter. Two, I suspect that he, unlike Eliot Spitzer, has got to figure out how he lives day to day without a job. And third, I suspect he’s also talking to his legal team about how to handle this situation with the U.S. attorney’s office, does he plead, does he not plead, is it best to resign.
Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn today said he would like to appoint at least a temporary senator before voters are given the right to pick a replacement for President-elect Barack Obama.
Speaking on NBC’s “Meet The Press” about allegations Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to sell Obama’s senate seat, Quinn raised yet another option for finding a replacement for Obama.
“I saw a bill on Friday night that would provide for a temporary appointment to the U.S. Senate until we could have a special election,” Quinn said. “I am concerned that we always have two senators from Illinois representing us in Washington and I think it’s very important that whoever is governor get an opportunity to appoint at least a temporary person until an election could take place.”
Quinn’s comments come after he was criticized last week for pulling a power play by calling on the legislature to impeach Blagoejvich immediately so that he could take the executive reins and name Obama’s replacement.
I hope this isn’t how he plans to govern the state.
Illinois Republican Party leaders are launching a television campaign to push their position that a special election should be called to fill the vacancy caused by President-elect Barack Obama’s depature, a move to prevent a Senate appointment by scandal-scarred Gov. Rod Blagojevich or Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn if he takes over the top job. […]
“Blagojevich Democrats like Pat Quinn did nothing to stand up to Governor Blagojevich and his ethical lapses,” said Joe Birkett, the DuPage County state’s attorney.
Birkett questioned why “Pat Quinn stood silent” when they ran together in 2006, when it was known that Blagojevich was the “eye of the storm”
* Over on ABC, John McCain tells the national Republicans to tone it down on the Blagojevich stuff and focus on the ecomony…
Sen. John McCain, D-Ariz., took on his own party this morning for continuing to criticize the way President-elect Barack Obama has handled the scandal surrounding Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
“In all due respect to the Republican National Committee… I think we should try to be working constructively together, not only on an issue such as this, but on the economy stimulus package, reforms that are necessary,” McCain said in an exclusive “This Week” interview with George Stephanopoulos.
RNC Chairman Mike Duncan has released a statement every day since news broke of the Blagojevich corruption investigation calling on the Obama team to reveal all contact that they’ve had with the governor.
The court in which Mr. Blagojevich is charged, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, has a local rule mandating that a “lawyer shall not make an extrajudicial statement the lawyer knows or reasonably should know is likely to be disseminated by public media and, if so disseminated, would pose a serious and imminent threat to the fairness of an adjudicative proceeding.” The rule goes on to say that a public statement “ordinarily is likely to have such an effect when it refers to” a criminal matter and to “the character or reputation of the accused, or any opinion as to the accused’s guilt or innocence, as to the merits of the case, or as to the evidence in the case.” The American Bar Association’s model rules are similar, if not more restrictive.
Against this backdrop, it is hard to feel comfortable with Mr. Fitzgerald’s remarks in announcing the charges that Mr. Blagojevich’s conduct amounted to a “political corruption crime spree” and “would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” that “the breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering,” that Mr. Blagojevich “put a ‘for sale’ sign on the naming of a United States senator” and that his conduct was “cynical” and “appalling” and has “taken us to a truly new low.”
[Senate President Emil Jones] wouldn’t say whether he thought Blagojevich should resign, instead taking reporters to school on the impeachment process – a process lawmakers could take up next week and until then Jones says state legislators should not be commenting on the charges against Blagojevich.
“The legal quandry that they find themselves in is that any articles coming out of the House cannot include the charges in the complaint filed by the U.S. attorney’s office because the U.S. Attorney is not going to turn over to that House all that evidence and witnesses because it would jeopardize the investigation. So that’s the dilemma that we’re in, understand what I’m saying?” Jones said.
The sole constitutional requirement for impeachment is 60 votes in the House. The sole constitutional requirement for removal is a 2/3 vote by the Senate.
Understand what I’m saying?
* Mark Brown is thinking impeachment is a criminal trial…
For instance, all that juicy “evidence” from the FBI wiretaps that has us all worked up against the governor isn’t really evidence at all for an impeachment case. State lawmakers wouldn’t have access to the real evidence against Blagojevich, only the prosecution’s allegations, and the governor wouldn’t really have a fair opportunity to defend himself.
Impeachment is a political act. He can be impeached and removed for crossing the street with the light.
A former Illinois politician and statewide office holder is expressing his desire for the now vacant Senate seat. CBS 2’s Suzanne Le Mignot reports.
Roland Burris was surrounded by supporters Saturday – supporters who are backing the former Illinois politician to fill the U.S. Senate seat, once occupied by President-Elect Barack Obama.
“Many of these are really my friends; I mean, I know them,” Burris said.”I am more than happy and willing and able to come to the call of my friend and to try to be able to bring some sanity and help to the people of this state and the people of America, in the United States Senate.”
Is Chris Kennedy, the son of the late, great U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a possible entrant on the list to fill Presidentelect Barack Obama’s Senate seat?
• • To wit: Sneed hears Kennedy’s name has been wafted into the inner circle of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, who would be the guy who chooses Obama’s replacement if Gov. Blagojevich resigns.
• • Quoth Dem politico Jay Doherty, a Kennedy confidant: “It would give Pat Quinn the answer to the puzzle before him if he becomes governor.”
• • The upshot: Word is Kennedy, who is also the nephew of Sen. Ted Kennedy, a major Obama supporter, is likely to accept if asked.
• • Hmmm: Wouldn’t that be something: An offspring of the legendary Kennedy line as a senator from Illinois? Stay tuned.
I like Chris Kennedy. He’s a great guy. The man has the Kennedy charisma in spades. He’d probably be a heckuva Senator. But wouldn’t three Kennedy’s in the US Senate be too much?
* Other stuff…
* Daley: Blagojevich should look “deep in his heart”
* Is it too little, too late from George Ryan?: “I don’t know how else to say it. My dad is looking for redemption. This came from him. This is from my dad’s heart,” said the younger Ryan. “… He told me: ‘I want to make this right.’ He said it was time for him to say something.”
Last week’s revelation that Gov. Blagojevich was secretly recorded in his campaign office and on his home phone has prompted more than a dozen potential witnesses in recent days to come forward. They’ve been calling investigators and defense lawyers to talk about deals or discussions they’ve had with Blagojevich.
One prominent criminal defense attorney, who asked not to be named, said he alone received calls from three potential clients claiming to be victims of pay-to-play schemes under the governor.
“This is something they’ve been carrying around that they finally want to talk about,” the attorney said.
* And remember the “traffic jam” we heard about Friday? Well…
Other lawyers say they’ve been contacted by potential witnesses or subjects of the investigation who believe they are discussed in the complaint or who believe they may have been recorded.
The Illinois Republican Party launched a new Web site that it says will link 12 different state Democrats to scandal-ridden Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The site, Friendsofblago.com, is the latest incarnation of the state party’s hopes of turning President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat over to the GOP. […]
Currently, though, the web with strands connecting 12 postage-stamp sized squares to the embattled governor, links Blagojevich to only one other Democrat, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn. The other slots contain a question mark, and the words, “WHO’S NEXT?”
It’ll be over a week before visitors to the site find out.
The state GOP says it will “unveil a new Democrat and their Blagojevich connection each day to remind voters that Blagojevich Democrats should not be choosing our next U.S. Senator.”
* CongressMatters has a handy list of US House members who voted “Yes” on the financial industry bailout, but voted “No” on the auto industry bailout. Those from Illinois were…
* Judy Biggert (R-IL-13)
* Mark Kirk (R-IL-10)
* Jerry Weller (R-IL-11)
* Those who voted “Yes” on the financial industry bailout, but did not cast a vote on the auto bailout…
* Rahm Emanuel (D-IL-05)
* Luis Gutierrez (D-IL-04)
* And here’s a list of those who voted “Yes” on the auto bailout, but voted “No” on the financial industry bailout…
* Jerry Costello (D-IL-12)
* Dan Lipinski (D-IL-03)
* Don Manzullo (R-IL-16)
* As I told you the other day, GateHouse has a new survey of state legislators on various issues. It would’ve been helpful if GateHouse had given us a breakdown by chamber and by party, but no such luck. Here’s the narrative…
Of the 134 lawmakers who responded to the survey, 116 say he should resign right away, or nearly 87 percent. And 108 legislators — more than 80 percent of those responding — say the General Assembly should pursue impeachment soon. […]
On impeachment, 25 lawmakers said they either were unsure or wouldn’t comment. Many of those are senators, who could serve as the arbiter on impeachment if the House begins that process. […]
90 lawmakers, said they support a special election for the Senate seat. That’s about two-thirds of the 134 survey respondents. […]
But legislators are split on executive authority, with 56 saying the legislature should try to curb the governor’s power because of Blagojevich’s scandal and 53 saying “no.”
Should the governor resign immediately?
116 lawmakers say YES
6 lawmakers say NO
2 say UNSURE
10 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respond
Should the legislature start impeachment proceedings immediately?
108 lawmakers say YES
1 says NO
8 say UNSURE
17 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respond
Should Illinois have a special election to pick Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate replacement?
90 lawmakers say YES
14 say NO
21 say UNSURE
9 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respond
Regardless of what happens with Blagojevich, should the legislature take steps to curb the power a governor has in this state?
56 lawmakers say YES
53 lawmakers say NO
17 say UNSURE
8 say NO COMMENT
43 did not respond
There are no crosstabs, but click here to search for your own legislator. You can’t search by votes on each topic, which is quite maddening, and there also doesn’t appear to be a way to download the entire xls file.
* Meanwhile, the New York Times looks at various ways of discerning which state is the most corrupt…
Where is officialdom most crooked? Last week, many guessed it must be Illinois, after news that Gov. Rod Blagojevich was taped making brazen personal demands in exchange for his selection of a Senate successor to President-elect Barack Obama. […]
But bloggers from competing hotbeds of wrongdoing proclaimed that theirs were the worst officials in the land, thank you. New Jerseyans seemed especially sure that their leadership came out on top in the race to the bottom.
Not so. And not so for Illinois, either.
There are several ways to gauge levels of government corruption, all of them a bit, well, corrupt. We present three methods here in the interest of keeping the arguments going.
* Here are some of the charts. Click each for the complete lists…
* We’ll be back tomorrow sometime. Bobby’ll play us out again today…
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’,
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’,
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’,
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’,
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
* This story is starting to get some play out there in Medialand…
At least some of his constituents want embattled Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. to resign.
About a dozen protesters stood outside his Chicago office Saturday shouting, “Ho ho ho, Jesse Jr.’s gotta go.”
Protest organizer Harold Davis says he believes allegations that an emissary may have offered to raise money for Gov. Rod Blagojevich in exchange for Jackson being appointed to President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
A citizens group says it will call on Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. to resign.
Citizens of Illinois for Better Government says its members will gather at noon in front of Jackson’s Chicago office and call for his resignation.
Doesn’t anybody know how to use The Google?
* First of all, “Citizens of Illinois for Better Government” doesn’t appear to be a “real” organization.
* Also, this Harold Davis guy has been a longtime critic of Rev., Jesse Jackson, Sr. and Congressman Jackson. Today’s developments are an organic, grassroots display of outrage.
“We want the Democratic Party to know that we will no longer be taken for granted, we will no longer just give our vote to them. We will no longer allow Jesse to pigeonhole the black community into a vote for them,” Davis said.
Harold Davis said he was willing to give Bush and the GOP a chance to compete for his vote.
“Let’s see what the Republican Party has to say about pulling yourself up by your own boot straps. Let’s give them the opportunity to come to the talk,” Davis said.
Another source said that contact between the Obama camp and the governor’s administration regarding the Senate seat began the Saturday before the Nov. 4 election, when Emanuel made a call to the cell phone of Harris. The conversation took place around the same time press reports surfaced about Emanuel being approached about taking the high-level White House post should Obama win.
Emanuel delivered a list of candidates who would be “acceptable” to Obama, the source said. On the list were Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, Illinois Veterans Affairs director Tammy Duckworth, state Comptroller Dan Hynes and U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Chicago, the source said. All are Democrats.
Sometime after the election, Emanuel called Harris back to add the name of Democratic Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan to the approved list, the source said.
This is what is called information, not news. The national media seems to be all atwitter that Emaneul is on the federal surveillance tapes. But literally anyone who called the governor’s campaign office during that time period could be on the tapes, so that proves absoultely nothing and it’s just typical DC media goofiness to keep bringing up that subject.
* Buried way down at the bottom of this story from The Hill…
Many believe Emanuel makes his own appearance in the criminal complaint, showing up as an unnamed adviser to Obama. Blagojevich curses the unnamed adviser in conversations with aides because, he says, the adviser seems unwilling to meet the governor’s demands.
Unless Rahm was wheeling and dealing with Governor Blagojevich on that Senate seat, promising favors like jobs and campaign cash, then this has absolutely zero real impact on Emanuel or Obama, especially since the feds are saying he’s not a target. .
If confirmed as attorney general, Eric Holder may have to consider removing himself from overseeing the Chicago corruption probe that ensnared Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, legal experts say.
Holder was a co-chairman of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, joining in 2007 when the long-running investigation focused on a businessman who had been among the biggest fundraisers for Obama and Blagojevich.
The legal ethics issue that Holder may have to deal with, called recusal, could arise if Holder had conversations about the Chicago investigation with Obama or his staff.
Harris, who served as a deputy police superintendent and city budget director, helped run the Hired Truck program under Daley.
That program wasn’t “run” out of the budget office, but Harris did know a whole lot about what was happening on the 5th Floor.
Way down at the very bottom was this…
Others doubt that Harris presents any threat to his former boss. “Daley has always been smart enough to insulate himself enough,” said one longtime city official. “It’s not money, really, that pushes Daley. Ego and votes do. The feds keep throwing darts at the board and nothing has stuck. They’ve never been able to catch him in a lie. Now Harris may be able to do that, or he may not. All we know is Harris fell in with a den of thieves, and he got hooked up.”
That probably should’ve been at the top. The question is whether Harris was a “buffer” or whether there were buffers between Harris and Daley. If it’s the former, Daley has reason to be worried. If it’s the latter, then this will go away like everything else in Daley World. [h/t to a commenter]
* And while this column is from a totally biased source, it makes some very good points…
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s “conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave,” according to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. But Mr. Fitzgerald’s statement would, at the very least, make well-regarded former Attorney General Robert Jackson flinch in his. Almost seven decades ago, Jackson admonished a meeting of U.S. attorneys that they should be dedicated “to the spirit of fair play and decency . . . . A sensitiveness to fair play and sportsmanship is perhaps the best protection against the abuse of power . . . .”
In the Dec. 9 press conference regarding the federal corruption charges against Gov. Blagojevich and his chief of staff, Mr. Fitzgerald violated the ethical requirement of the Justice Department guidelines that prior to trial a “prosecutor shall refrain from making extrajudicial comments that pose a serious and imminent threat of heightening public condemnation of the accused.” The prosecutor is permitted to “inform the public of the nature and extent” of the charges. In the vernacular of all of us who practice criminal law, that means the prosecutor may not go “beyond the four corners” — the specific facts — in the complaint or indictment. He may also provide any other public-record information, the status of the case, the names of investigators, and request assistance. But he is not permitted to make the kind of inflammatory statements Mr. Fitzgerald made during his media appearance. […]
Additionally, Mr. Fitzgerald violated another ethical mandate under Justice guidelines for prosecutors: He is supposed to “exercise reasonable care to prevent” law enforcement — in this case the FBI Agent — from making the same type of extrajudicial statements. Mr. Fitzgerald exercised no care.
Special Agent Rob Grant volunteered that when he arrived in Illinois four years ago, he was asked by the media whether Illinois is the “most corrupt state in the United States.” He then answered that four-year-old question claiming, “[I]t’s one hell of a competitor.” Mr. Grant did not stop there. He revealed that the FBI agents who participated in the case were “thoroughly disgusted and revolted by what they heard.”
Fitz should’ve left the breathless bloviating to the DC media.
Friday, Blagojevich retained the lawyer who defended R&B singer R. Kelly and disgraced media mogul Conrad Black to represent him in his criminal case.
Ed Genson, one of Chicago’s top criminal-defense attorneys, said he was assembling a team of lawyers to assist with the case. Genson typically doesn’t represent clients who plan to plead guilty.
* And this afternoon, the governor headed over to Genson’s office. From the AP…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich left his North Side home, and his vehicle was later seen parked outside the offices of a high-profile defense attorney.
The downtown building houses the offices of attorney Ed Genson. His clients have included newspaper magnate Conrad Black and R&B singer R. Kelly.
Blagojevich left his house carrying folders that appeared to be related to budget and health matters.
Genson is a heckuva lawyer. He’s tough and crafty, and he has no love for prosecutors. But he’s also a smart man. Hopefully, he’ll advise the governor to do the right thing with his office and step aside while he deals with this case.
Gov. Blagojevich will decide early next week — perhaps as early as Monday — whether he should resign, a source close to the governor told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“He was blindsided by this,” the source said. “He needs some time to digest what’s going on. He’s going to make his position clear shortly.”
On Friday, Cross had a conference call with his 52-member GOP delegation and said “at least” 45 favored launching impeachment proceedings immediately.
The same day, Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago), who is preparing an impeachment resolution independent of Madigan’s office, received commitments from 30 House Democrats to back impeachment.
All told, that’s at least 75 House members wanting the impeachment process to begin against Blagojevich. Sixty votes are necessary to get the ball rolling.
That’s way on the low side because some House Democrats have still not made their positions known.
The guv is toast if he doesn’t step aside or step down.
* Ab Mikva talks about Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s motion at the Supreme Court…
First, Mikva said, “He’s hardly entitled to the practical presumption of innocence that the average citizen is because these are the words out of his own mouth.”
Second, he said, “This is the minimum interference with the electoral process to allow the state to move.”
“I’m amazed she’s doing it. It’s a terrible idea,” said Ann Lousin, an expert on the Illinois constitution at the John Marshall School of Law.
The law, Lousin said, requires the governor to be found mentally or physically unfit for office. Since the governor is physically able to hold office, Madigan would have to prove that Blagojevich has descended into a deluded mental state, Lousin said.
Not necessarily. Lousin should’ve read the motion before spouting off like that.
The president of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association, a major campaign contributor to Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is calling for the scandal-plagued governor to step down.
