Kathianne
12-31-2008, 06:02 AM
I must say, it's more fun now that the whole country has become familiar with Ill. politics. Some people to watch be called in impeachment/trials that will be forthcoming:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/blagojevich-legal-counsel-quinlan.html
Blagojevich's legal counsel resigns
December 30, 2008 at 5:08 PM | Comments (9)
William J. Quinlan, general counsel to Gov. Rod Blagojevich for the last four years, resigned today to return to private practice.
"We should not let recent events diminish the pride in our accomplishments or the commitment to public service with which we approach our job each day," Quinlan wrote in a letter to his co-workers in the governor's legal office.
The resignation comes three weeks after FBI agents arrested Blagojevich at his North Side home on political corruption charges. Among them was an allegation Blagojevich tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama to benefit himself and his family.
Quinlan is the latest high-level Blagojevich administration official to leave. John Harris, Blagojevich's co-defendant, resigned as chief of staff. Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee and Jeff Daily, the new executive director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, also have resigned.
Will Burris be seated in the Senate, looks like a yes:
http://volokh.com/posts/1229032345.shtml
Could Senate Refuse To Seat a Senator Appointed by Gov. Blagojevich?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) seem to say "yes":
Please understand that should you decide to ignore the request of the Senate Democratic Caucus and make an appointment we would be forced to exercise our Constitutional authority under Article I, Section 5, to determine whether such a person should be seated.
But Supreme Court precedent suggests "no": The Court held in Powell v. McCormack (1969), that "in judging the qualifications of its members Congress is limited to the standing qualifications prescribed in the Constitution," such as age and citizenship. Now perhaps the Senators are right and the Court was wrong, and perhaps today's Court would overrule Powell....
and Blago didn't get where he is by being stupid, unethical, yes; stupid, no:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-burris-31-dec31,0,1367315.column
For sheer brazenness, nobody surpasses Rod
John Kass
December 31, 2008
Since he was federally charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been wrongly caricatured as some kind of hapless jester prancing on the edge of madness.
Jesters hold rattles with a likeness of their heads on the end of a stick, and they hop off into a corner, prattling to themselves. That's what jesters do.
Jesters don't pick up the race card in a nationally televised news conference and slam it into the face of every Democrat in the U.S. Senate, a palm heel strike to the tip of the nose, leaving all of them watery-eyed, their lips stinging.
Yet that's what Blagojevich—aided by former Black Panther-turned-Daley-machine-functionary Bobby Rush—did at that stupendous news conference in Chicago on Tuesday. That's when the governor appointed Democratic empty suit Roland Burris, an African-American, to fill the Senate seat vacated by Obama.
...
Senate Democrats are talking tough now, saying they won't seat Burris, but that won't hold. The debate has been framed. The only African-American in the Senate leaves for the White House, another African-American is appointed to fill that spot, and Democratic politicians know they owe their livelihoods to African-American voters.
That talk about transcending race was just talk. Skin pigment trumps ideas, and Blagojevich, who may be facing a jury soon, wants all the friends he can get.
Of course, Tuesday's fiasco could have been avoided. Democrats in the state legislature could have stripped Blagojevich of his appointment powers and imposed a special election. Obama also could have demanded it. But as he has done so often in his career, Obama avoided a confrontation and looked the other way.
Democrats tried to finesse this, and they allowed Blagojevich the opening he needed, to hold that news conference and defy everybody. And so I'm forced to tip my hat to Gov. Dead Meat on this one, for sheer brazenness.
He's no jester. And it takes guts to keep a straight face while Democrats about you are losing theirs.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2008/12/blagojevich-legal-counsel-quinlan.html
Blagojevich's legal counsel resigns
December 30, 2008 at 5:08 PM | Comments (9)
William J. Quinlan, general counsel to Gov. Rod Blagojevich for the last four years, resigned today to return to private practice.
"We should not let recent events diminish the pride in our accomplishments or the commitment to public service with which we approach our job each day," Quinlan wrote in a letter to his co-workers in the governor's legal office.
The resignation comes three weeks after FBI agents arrested Blagojevich at his North Side home on political corruption charges. Among them was an allegation Blagojevich tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama to benefit himself and his family.
Quinlan is the latest high-level Blagojevich administration official to leave. John Harris, Blagojevich's co-defendant, resigned as chief of staff. Deputy Gov. Bob Greenlee and Jeff Daily, the new executive director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, also have resigned.
Will Burris be seated in the Senate, looks like a yes:
http://volokh.com/posts/1229032345.shtml
Could Senate Refuse To Seat a Senator Appointed by Gov. Blagojevich?
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senator Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) seem to say "yes":
Please understand that should you decide to ignore the request of the Senate Democratic Caucus and make an appointment we would be forced to exercise our Constitutional authority under Article I, Section 5, to determine whether such a person should be seated.
But Supreme Court precedent suggests "no": The Court held in Powell v. McCormack (1969), that "in judging the qualifications of its members Congress is limited to the standing qualifications prescribed in the Constitution," such as age and citizenship. Now perhaps the Senators are right and the Court was wrong, and perhaps today's Court would overrule Powell....
and Blago didn't get where he is by being stupid, unethical, yes; stupid, no:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-burris-31-dec31,0,1367315.column
For sheer brazenness, nobody surpasses Rod
John Kass
December 31, 2008
Since he was federally charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been wrongly caricatured as some kind of hapless jester prancing on the edge of madness.
Jesters hold rattles with a likeness of their heads on the end of a stick, and they hop off into a corner, prattling to themselves. That's what jesters do.
Jesters don't pick up the race card in a nationally televised news conference and slam it into the face of every Democrat in the U.S. Senate, a palm heel strike to the tip of the nose, leaving all of them watery-eyed, their lips stinging.
Yet that's what Blagojevich—aided by former Black Panther-turned-Daley-machine-functionary Bobby Rush—did at that stupendous news conference in Chicago on Tuesday. That's when the governor appointed Democratic empty suit Roland Burris, an African-American, to fill the Senate seat vacated by Obama.
...
Senate Democrats are talking tough now, saying they won't seat Burris, but that won't hold. The debate has been framed. The only African-American in the Senate leaves for the White House, another African-American is appointed to fill that spot, and Democratic politicians know they owe their livelihoods to African-American voters.
That talk about transcending race was just talk. Skin pigment trumps ideas, and Blagojevich, who may be facing a jury soon, wants all the friends he can get.
Of course, Tuesday's fiasco could have been avoided. Democrats in the state legislature could have stripped Blagojevich of his appointment powers and imposed a special election. Obama also could have demanded it. But as he has done so often in his career, Obama avoided a confrontation and looked the other way.
Democrats tried to finesse this, and they allowed Blagojevich the opening he needed, to hold that news conference and defy everybody. And so I'm forced to tip my hat to Gov. Dead Meat on this one, for sheer brazenness.
He's no jester. And it takes guts to keep a straight face while Democrats about you are losing theirs.