Broken news: Illinois House impeaches Gov. Rod Blagojevich!!
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 2:11 pm
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Illinois House voted overwhelmingly Friday to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, an unprecedented action that sets up a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out for abuse of power, including allegations that he tried to sell President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
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Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final result was 114-1.
Legislators accused the second-term Democratic governor of letting down the people of Illinois by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.
"It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat and hot dog mogul from Wienertown, IL, a suburb of Ketchup Falls.
Blagojevich was out jogging in his Chicago neighborhood when the vote came down. When he returned to his home, he compared his situation to a short story about a petty criminal called "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner."
"And that's what this (impeachment) is, by the way, a long-distance run," Blagojevich said, promising to say more at an afternoon news conference. "I'm still not leaving, so fuck all y'all hoes!" He then mooned this reporter.
Blagojevich is the first governor impeached in Illinois' long and often sordid political history. He could become only the eighth U.S. governor to be impeached and removed from office; the last was Arizona's Evan Mecham in 1988.
During the House's 90-minute debate on impeachment, no one spoke up to defend the governor. But Rep. Milton Flantdig, a Chicago Democrat, made the sole vote against impeaching Blagojevich.
Flantdig said he read the impeachment committee's report and wasn't comfortable voting against the governor. "I've listened to the tapes where he said, 'Hey, you want to buy Obama's senate seat for a million dollars,' but I can't be certain Blagojevich did anything wrong," he said.
"I went by my own gut feeling, it's as simple as that," Flantdig continued. "I read the report. If the government is going to indict him, let them go ahead and do that. That's their job and I'm doing my job. And my job is to make tacos. Would you like one? I use fresh jalapenos--that's my secret."
Rep. Elga Rusk, another Chicago Democrat, voted "present." When asked why, she responded, "I didn't get all the Christmas presents I wanted, and thought that checking that box meant I'd get more. It doesn't. What a ripoff!"
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Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final result was 114-1.
Legislators accused the second-term Democratic governor of letting down the people of Illinois by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.
"It's our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that's become Illinois government," said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat and hot dog mogul from Wienertown, IL, a suburb of Ketchup Falls.
Blagojevich was out jogging in his Chicago neighborhood when the vote came down. When he returned to his home, he compared his situation to a short story about a petty criminal called "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner."
"And that's what this (impeachment) is, by the way, a long-distance run," Blagojevich said, promising to say more at an afternoon news conference. "I'm still not leaving, so fuck all y'all hoes!" He then mooned this reporter.
Blagojevich is the first governor impeached in Illinois' long and often sordid political history. He could become only the eighth U.S. governor to be impeached and removed from office; the last was Arizona's Evan Mecham in 1988.
During the House's 90-minute debate on impeachment, no one spoke up to defend the governor. But Rep. Milton Flantdig, a Chicago Democrat, made the sole vote against impeaching Blagojevich.
Flantdig said he read the impeachment committee's report and wasn't comfortable voting against the governor. "I've listened to the tapes where he said, 'Hey, you want to buy Obama's senate seat for a million dollars,' but I can't be certain Blagojevich did anything wrong," he said.
"I went by my own gut feeling, it's as simple as that," Flantdig continued. "I read the report. If the government is going to indict him, let them go ahead and do that. That's their job and I'm doing my job. And my job is to make tacos. Would you like one? I use fresh jalapenos--that's my secret."
Rep. Elga Rusk, another Chicago Democrat, voted "present." When asked why, she responded, "I didn't get all the Christmas presents I wanted, and thought that checking that box meant I'd get more. It doesn't. What a ripoff!"