# Governor Blagojevich Arrested, What Now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 9, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396 "2008-12-09T15:36:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/241 "2008-12-13T02:46:47Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > I would say it’s looking like the Clinton playbook now. Blagojevich had[3 pastors](http://www.truveo.com/AP-Exclusive-Pastor-Prays-With-Gov-Blagojevich/id/40062650)over to his house to pray for his political soul. I’m not talking about Blago. Blago can go hang. He’s a crook and you WILL NOT find me defending him. I’m talking about people like **What Exit…???** who instantly try to connect the non-existent dots between Obama and Blago, despite there being no evidence that there is any such connection. Eight more years of witch hunts on the horizon. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/242 "2008-12-13T03:42:15Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Reagan wasn’t involved at all in Abscam, but you can’t say “Go ahead and do it, just don’t tell me about it.” Not sure what your point is, here, but let’s move on. > [@Markxxx](#): > > That is like hiring a hit man then complaining when you’re arrested for murder. 😕 > [@Markxxx](#): > > Obama and Dick Durbin, need to explain WHY the governor was busted now? Why not before the elections. G-Rod tried to use his influence to stop the Chicago Tribune from saying bad things about him. Did Obama and Dick Durbin (who was a Democrat running from Illinois for the Senate) stop the FBI from saying anything BEFORE the November election. Are you suggesting that senators can do that? If so, can you substantiate, and if not, could you clarify? > [@Markxxx](#): > > If not then my question is WHY with all the evidence, did they wait. From news reports I have seen they had pretty much everything except the governor trying to sell the Senate seat before the Nov elections. Wait, why did WHO wait? Fitzgerald? The FBI? Who are you suggesting should be responsible for answering that? > [@Markxxx](#): > > If Obama and Durbin didn’t influence the FBI then WHY didn’t they bust him early. That needs to be explained in full Well, to begin with, the Senate is a part of the legislative branch, and doesn’t really have authority to direct the actions of the FBI (a part of the Justice Department, and therefore subject to the orders of the executive branch). If you’d care to assert otherwise, go nuts. You’ll probably be asked to provide some facts to back up the assertion, of course. > [@Markxxx](#): > > Why was G-Rod so mad at Obama, did Obama or one of Obama’s men offer him a deal then back out, once he got elected, because he thought he was now president elect and above rereproach? I think the general consensus is that G-Rod was upset with Obama because Obama had been distancing himself from G-Rod for quite some time, even before the convention, and this was compounded by Obama **not** coming around offering perks and paybacks when Blagojevich had something that he thought Obama would want. > [@Markxxx](#): > > Maybe none of this happened, but Obama needs to explain things and do it clearly. How does one satisfactorily “explain” something that “never happened”? > [@Markxxx](#): > > For instance with his birth certificate. I don’t believe anything was wrong, but why not just give proof instead of this hemming and hawing for months, when a simple “here it is” would have shut everyone up. As I understand it, he did [simply make the birth certificate available]. It didn’t [shut everyone up]. > [@Markxxx](#): > > Obama is hiding again. Why? Didn’t he get elected as the voice of change. If you have nothing to hide, open up your vault and let people look. > > The reason he isn’t is he wants to be president so he can claim, “You can’t look it would be in violation of national security.” This is why he is urging G-Rod to quit so he can sweep this under the rug till he’s president and claim immunity. O-kaayyyy. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/243 "2008-12-13T03:52:00Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > If you have nothing to hide, open up your vault and let people look. If you have nothing to hide, how do your detractors know when you’ve shown it to them? You can’t — because detractors can make up whatever harebrained allegations that they want and then demand you prove _that it didn’t happen._ How do you provide evidence of a non-existent thing? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/244 "2008-12-13T04:16:25Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Obama and Dick Durbin, need to explain WHY the governor was busted now? Why the fuck do THEY need to explain it? They’re not in charge of the investigation. What say did they have over if or when Blagojevich got arrested? > [@](#): > > Why not before the elections. G-Rod tried to use his influence to stop the Chicago Tribune from saying bad things about him. Did Obama and Dick Durbin (who was a Democrat running from Illinois for the Senate) stop the FBI from saying anything BEFORE the November election. I’m not really clear on what you’re raving about here. You’re alleging that Obama and Durbin had some sort of say over FBI investigations? > [@](#): > > If not then my question is WHY with all the evidence, did they wait. From news reports I have seen they had pretty much everything except the governor trying to sell the Senate seat before the Nov elections. Who is “they” in this paragraph? Is it the Feds? If that’s the case, they had NOT seen everything regarding the Senate seat, namely because it hadn’t been _vacated_ yet. If by “they,” you mean Obama and Durbin, the answer is that they had nothing to do with the investigation and no particular knowledge of the details. > [@](#): > > If Obama and Durbin didn’t influence the FBI then WHY didn’t they bust him early. That needs to be explained in full. Where are you getting this insane notion that Obama and Durbin had any knowledge or authority regarding the investigation? > [@](#): > > Why was G-Rod so mad at Obama, did Obama or one of Obama’s men offer him a deal then back out, once he got elected, because he thought he was now president elect and above rereproach? On the tapes, Blagojevich says he was mad at Obama because Obama wouldn’t give hm a bribe. If you have some evidence to support your fevered conspiracy theory, let’s see it. > [@](#): > > Maybe none of this happened, but Obama needs to explain things and do it clearly. So far, we’ve seen no indication that Obama has to explain a damn thing. > [@](#): > > For instance with his birth certificate. I don’t believe anything was wrong, but why not just give proof instead of this hemming and hawing for months, when a simple “here it is” would have shut everyone up. Obama’s birth certificate is freely viewable on [fightthesmears.com](http://fightthesmears.com). He produced it a long, long time ago. > [@](#): > > Obama is hiding again. Why? Didn’t he get elected as the voice of change. If you have nothing to hide, open up your vault and let people look. > > The reason he isn’t is he wants to be president so he can claim, “You can’t look it would be in violation of national security.” This is why he is urging G-Rod to quit so he can sweep this under the rug till he’s president and claim immunity. This is all so nuts, it’s pretty much self-refuting. Have you accidentally wandered onto the wrong website? Do you think you’re posting at worldnetdaily or something? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/245 "2008-12-13T16:38:17Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > As I understand it, he did [simply make the birth certificate available]. It didn’t [shut everyone up]. [You understand correctly.](http://www.slate.com/id/2206033/) > [@](#): > > How did the citizenship rumor get started? Ironically, it began when the Obama campaign tried to debunk some other conspiracies. After Obama locked up the nomination in early June, low-level talk radio and blog chatter peddled rumors that Obama’s real middle name was Muhammad, that his father was not really Barack Obama, and that he was not really born in Hawaii. The campaign released a facsimile of Obama’s certificate of live birth. Requested from the state in 2007, the certificate reported that Obama was, indeed, born in Honolulu at 7:24 p.m. on Aug. 4, 1961. > > The certificate was a bullet that didn’t put down the horse. Why, skeptics asked, release a new form from Hawaii instead of the original paper that Obama’s parents got in 1961—the one that Obama found in a box of his dad’s knickknacks in Dreams From My Father? They quickly came up with an explanation: The certificate was forged. Anonymous digital image experts with handles like Techdude and Polarik sprung from the woodwork to prove (shades of Rathergate!) that pixels, spacing, and indentation on the form indicated that the Obama campaign had created the certificate with Adobe Photoshop. The state of Hawaii’s official statement that the certificate was legitimate didn’t make a dent—after all, who is Registrar of Vital Statistics Alvin Onaka to argue with Techdude? > > This “forgery” became an article of faith in the Obama conspiracy community. When a Hillary Clinton supporter found a birth announcement for Obama from the Aug. 13, 1961, edition of the Honolulu Advertiser, the theorists were unbowed: After all, the Obama family could have phoned that in from Kenya. When Pennsylvania lawyer Philip J. Berg filed the first birth-related injunction against Obama this August, asking that Obama be ruled “ineligible to run for United States Office of the President,” he alleged that the certificate had been proved a forgery by the “extensive Forensic testing” of anonymous experts and claimed that Obama’s campaign had simply inserted his name over that of his half-sister, Maya. That would have been quite a trick, as Maya Soetoro-Ng was actually born in Indonesia. > > Berg’s involvement in the movement—and his self-promotion, which has included a radio interview with Michael Savage and a full-page ad in the Washington Times—is probably a net loss for all concerned. Berg’s last big lawsuits were filed in 2003 and 2004 on behalf of 9/11 skeptics that sought to uncover the Bush administration’s complicity in the attacks. “There’s been many fires in many buildings before, and even after,” Berg said in a 2007 interview. “Concrete and steel buildings do not fall down from fires.” Berg did not respond to my request for an interview, but if you call his office, you can press “2” for more information on “the 9/11 case.” > > None of that stopped Berg from stoking the conspiracy theorists. On Oct. 16, an Anabaptist minister named Ron McRae called Sarah Hussein Obama, the president-elect’s 86-year-old paternal step-grandmother, at her home in Kenya. Two translators were on the line when McRae asked if the elder Obama was “present” when the president-elect was born. One of the translators says “yes.” McRae contacted Berg and gave him a partial transcript of the call with a signed affidavit. He opted not to include the rest of the call, in which he asks the question more directly—“Was he born in Mombassa?”—and the translators, finally understanding him, tell him repeatedly that the president-elect was born in Hawaii. > > The Hawaiian documentation, the 1961 newspaper announcement, the phony evidence from Sarah Obama—all of that aside, the idea that Obama wasn’t born in Honolulu goes against everything we know about his rather well-documented life. Barack Obama Sr. came to America as part of a 1959 program for Kenyan students—he did not return home until 1965, years after he left his wife and son. Ann Dunham was three months pregnant when she married Obama Sr. and 18 years old when she gave birth. There is no record of Dunham ever traveling to Kenya, much less the year after the Mau Mau rebellion ended, when she was pregnant and when she had no disposable income to speak of. “Ann’s mother would have gone ballistic if her daughter had even mentioned traveling to Kenya in the final stages of pregnancy,” says David Mendell, author of the biography Obama: From Promise to Power. > > Reached by phone, Ron McRae doesn’t claim to know when or how Dunham got to Kenya, only that she gave birth in a Third World country because “she didn’t want to take a chance on that flight back” and that “everyone in Kenya” knows this. If so, they’ve kept it a pretty solid secret from the international reporters who’ve visited the country since Obama rose to prominence. But the story is good enough for Gary Kreep, the conservative head of the United States Justice Foundation, who filed suit against Obama on behalf of Alan Keyes, the unstoppable fringe candidate who was on the ballot in California on the American Independent Party ticket. “If he’s got nothing to hide,” says Kreep, “why not give us access?” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/246 "2008-12-13T21:53:50Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > For instance with his birth certificate. I don’t believe anything was wrong, but why not just give proof instead of this hemming and hawing for months, when a simple “here it is” would have shut everyone up. This is why bullshit artists like Berg start their campaigns: they hope people like you will believe it’s suspicious that their target (Obama) won’t answer a simple question, when in reality every time the question is answered they either ignore it or invent some reason it isn’t credible. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/247 "2008-12-13T22:49:54Z")
“Prove that your birth certificate wasn’t forged!” “I did! Prove that I didn’t show it to you.” ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/248 "2008-12-14T00:11:59Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Now the Illinois AG (who herself has been mentioned as a gubernatorial prospect) has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to relieve Blago from his duties and permit Quinn to take over as Acting Governor. Pardon me if this has been said already, but this move strikes me as a granstand ploy by the AG. Just impeach the guy already. Why go all extra-constitutional? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/249 "2008-12-14T04:06:59Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Pardon me if this has been said already, but this move strikes me as a granstand ploy by the AG. Just impeach the guy already. Why go all extra-constitutional? Time pressure. Impeachment takes time. Letting Blago go on running the state government another week obviously is unacceptable, and **somebody** has to run it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/250 "2008-12-14T05:40:28Z")
It’s unpalatable, to be sure, and I do hope the Illlinois supremes see it as unacceptable for the state, instead of just to the Democratic Party. I can easily see an argument being forwarded that AG Madigan’s construction of the term “disabled” is novel. I don’t think that novelty in and of itself is sufficient to invalidate an interpretation, but a competent lawyer will certainly attack it on those grounds at least. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/251 "2008-12-14T21:34:11Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Time pressure. Impeachment takes time. Letting Blago go on running the state government another week obviously is unacceptable, and **somebody** has to run it. At least, that’s the [stated reason:](http://www.suntimes.com/news/1328298,madigan-blagojevich-121208.article) > [@](#): > > Madigan said declaring Blagojevich unable to serve would allow the state to function while the legislature moves forward on impeachment, a process that could take several weeks. > > “I recognize this is an extraordinary request, but these are extraordinary circumstances,” Madigan said. > > Madigan said that in light of the criminal charges against Blagojevich, “He can no longer fulfill his duties with any legitimacy.” She argued in court papers that the term “disability” under Illinois law should not be read to simply mean physical or mental incapacity. > > Madigan is being advised by Abner Mikva, White House counsel under President Bill Clinton and a confidant of President-elect Barack Obama. Mikva said Friday he thinks the appeal to the Supreme Court is the “least invasive way” to solve the problem. “It does not try to take over the legislative function,” Mikva said. “It invites the Legislature to proceed as rapidly as they can.” > > Illinois Comptroller Daniel Hynes said he supported Madigan’s move, and he noted that the state has $4.5 billion in unpaid debts and has been unable to proceed with borrowing $1.4 billion because of uncertainty over the governor’s office. > > “This is a severe setback and hardship caused by once again the governor’s unwillingness to face reality and do the right thing,” said Hynes, referring to Blagojevich’s refusal to resign. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/252 "2008-12-14T21:40:06Z")
I don’t think her definition of “disability” is going to fly. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/253 "2008-12-15T14:22:30Z")
FWIW, the following is a cut and paste from an email from a friend of mine who is an Illinois attorney re the Illinois AG’s lawsuit : Last week, the Attorney General filed an original action in the Illinois Supreme Court under Supreme Court Rule 382 seeking Blagojevich’s removal. While the goal might be laudable, I wonder whether this lawsuit is such a hot idea even if it were constitutional, which I doubt. Rule 382 gives the Court original jurisdiction over the issue of “the ability of the Governor to serve or resume office.” Article V, Section 6(d) of the Illinois Constitution states that “[t]he General Assembly by law shall specify by whom and by what procedures the ability of the Governor to serve or to resume office may be questioned and determined. The Supreme Court shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction to review such a law and any such determination and, in the absence of such a law, shall make the determination under such rules as it may adopt.” As far as I can tell, the Illinois Supreme Court has not construed either Rule 382 or Article V, Section 6(d) and, thus, it is unclear whether the Supreme Court can, under this rule and constitutional provision, order the removal of the Governor. however, the precedent that this case creates might be problematic in the future. Can a future attorney general who disagrees with the governor (or who wants the governor’s job) and who anticipates that the Court will support a removal petition, be able to initiate the removal of the governor through a lawsuit? One more legal complication – Article IV, Section 14 of the Illinois Constitution states that “[t]he House of Representatives has the sole power to conduct legislative investigations to determine the existence of cause for impeachment and, by the vote of a majority of the members elected, to impeach Executive and Judicial officers. Impeachments shall be tried by the Senate. When sitting for that purpose, Senators shall be upon oath, or affirmation, to do justice according to law. If the Governor is tried, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senators elected.” Given the fact that the Constitution gives a coordinate branch of government (the legislative branch) the authority to remove the governor, I don’t believe that the judicial branch can simply remove him. To do so would violate the separation of powers doctrine in Article I, Section 2 of the Illinois Constitution. O.K., sorry for the const’l law lecture. I think that Blagojevich should, for the good of the nation, leave office but it should happen by: (a) resignation or (b) impeachment in the Illinois Legislature. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/254 "2008-12-15T14:35:24Z")
I’m opposed to any attempt to remove the governor through a judicial process without a showing that he’s been hit in the head by a truck or the like. Blagojevich is, to me, clearly a bad governor, but being “bad” isn’t a disability, it’s just bad. We have a process for that: impeachment. The idea of an state supreme court removing the governor on the motion of one person seems too much like a judicially sanctioned coup/ I don’t understand why they think impeachment will take months. I would think the Legislature is capable of moving on this pretty quickly if there really is a need for urgency – and if there is, it is to that body, and not the Supreme Court, that people should be making their cases. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/255 "2008-12-15T18:36:04Z")
> [@KellyM](#): > > I’m opposed to any attempt to remove the governor through a judicial process without a showing that he’s been hit in the head by a truck or the like. If you’ve got a plane ticket to Chicago, I’ve got two days off from work and a brick… ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/256 "2008-12-15T19:17:57Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > If you’ve got a plane ticket to Chicago, I’ve got two days off from work and a brick… Well, according to the news Blago’s on his way to Springfield… ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/257 "2008-12-16T01:00:01Z")
I read the complaint over the weekend. I’m sure that stuff goes on all the time, but it is still breath-taking. I recommend that everyone read it for the full effect. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/258 "2008-12-16T07:49:54Z")
> [@KellyM](#): > > I’m opposed to any attempt to remove the governor through a judicial process without a showing that he’s been hit in the head by a truck or the like. Blagojevich is, to me, clearly a bad governor, but being “bad” isn’t a disability, it’s just bad. We have a process for that: impeachment. The idea of an state supreme court removing the governor on the motion of one person seems too much like a judicially sanctioned coup/ > > I don’t understand why they think impeachment will take months. I would think the Legislature is capable of moving on this pretty quickly if there really is a need for urgency – and if there is, it is to that body, and not the Supreme Court, that people should be making their cases. WTH? Why should they move on this quickly because he’s a governor? If I did this and had to spend time at court and/or jail I would be fired. Screw him. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/259 "2008-12-16T14:03:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > WTH? Why should they move on this quickly because he’s a governor? If I did this and had to spend time at court and/or jail I would be fired. Screw him. Because, constitutionally, nobody has the authority to fire him. He can be impeached or the courts can rule him disabled to serve and those are the only options. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2008, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396/260 "2008-12-17T16:24:42Z")
A _Time_ magazine profile of Lt. Gov. Quinn: [http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1866690,00.html](http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1866690,00.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/governor-blagojevich-arrested-what-now/476396.md?page=14)