Exactly. And it couldn’t do any good for his legal defense. He seems to have very few friends in power and those that were friends are stepping away. What incentive could anyone give to get him to resign? Clearly he doesn’t do anything for anyone without something in return. I think they will have to run him out.
As far as seating himself, I can’t see that doing any good (even ignoring the resistance he would face). As for seating someone else, would anyone want to take that chance? It seems like anyone he seats would get blocked and that would kill their real chances to get in there. The candidates now would prefer to get in via election or appointment by Quinn.
Blago must be focusing on building a plan to beat the charges and I suspect any decisions he makes are with this firmly in mind.
WGN ran a call-in poll asking if he should resign. 14% said no. I can only assume that group was divided between members of his immediate family (but not inlaws), people who want to see him impeached, and those who want to see him lynched.
Would an impeachment require a proper trial or could the legislature remove him from office by acclamation when it meets tomorrow?
The Trib has an online poll which is showing about 5% support last I looked.
Impeachment works in Illinois about the same way it does on the federal level; the House would present a bill of impeachment to the Senate, which would convene as a trial court and decide Blago’s fate. I would imagine that he would be summoned to the Senate chamber should a bill be presented. According to one source I’ve seen, there are already 50 members of the House cosponsoring a bill of impeachment, which is not very much short of the number (half the members plus one, or 60) required to present the bill to the Senate. Conviction requires a 2/3rds vote of the Senate, so that will be somewhat harder.
The special election bill is expected to pass easily, possibly even unanimously.
As much as I would love them to do this by acclamation I’m sure it requires a trial and a longer process. And I can already imagine him grandstanding and trying to influence votes during the process. You think we’ve seen bad behavior already? Wait until he starts trying to blackmail legislators to vote for acquittal. I really think he is capable of anything at this point. Those tapes are just so damning.
There is no way for the Illinois legislature to remove the governor except through impeachment and trial. To do it “by acclamation” would sweep aside the constitutional protections that are there for both good governors and bad against legislative power grabs. Checks and balances cannot (and shouldn’t) be ignored in any government under the rule of law.
As to Blago appointing himself to the U.S. Senate seat, politically radioactive as he is, even popular governors far more often than not lose their next election when they appoint themselves to Senate vacancies. A college friend of mine did a research paper on the phenomenon. Voters just don’t like that kind of overweening self-promotion.
Does the Illinois constitution go into detail about this “trial” is supposed to consist of? Could the Senate simply debate without hearing evidence and then vote?
Article IV, Section 14 deals with impeachment and it doesn’t go into specifics on how they have to conduct it. Basically it says it has to be tried in the Senate, the Senators have to be under oath to “do justice according to law”, and it has to be presided over by the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. Conviction is by 2/3rds of the Senators. Would the phrase “do justice according to law” mean it has to follow a certain format? Honestly I wish this could be handled quickly but I doubt it will.
That might breach their oath; while sitting as a court, the Senators are on oath (or affirmation) to “do justice according to law”. Also, the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court presides while the Governor is on trial.
The standing rules of the Illinois Senate do not mention impeachment, so it seems that there are no other fixed rules for the process. Only one person has been impeached in Illinois history, a Supreme Court justice *in the 1830s, and he was acquitted.
