Criminal Justice
Illinois AG Calls for Governor to Resign, Promises ‘Legal Steps’ If He Won’t
Posted Dec 9, 2008 6:58 PM CST
By Martha Neil
In a stunning day for those who follow Illinois politics, the state's governor was arrested at his home in Chicago today and charged in a political corruption case.
Then, by early this afternoon, the state's attorney general, Lisa Madigan, was calling for Gov. Rod Blagojevich to resign immediately, according to a press release published by the Chicago Sun-Times.
If Blagojevich doesn't do so voluntarily, "as the state's chief legal officer, I want to assure the people of Illinois that I am working quickly to move forward on the next legal steps should the governor refuse to resign," she writes. "I am already working with the legislative leaders to make sure that the work of this state continues without interruption."
Both the governor and the attorney general are Democrats.
But Blagojevich has done nothing wrong and will be vindicated, his lawyer, Sheldon Sorosky, told reporters after his client was arraigned in federal court midway through the afternoon, reports the Politico. And he will not resign from office, Sorosky says.
Details of the charges against Blagojevich, who is accused of having sought to barter President-elect Barack Obama's vacant senate seat for personal advantage, among other charges, are provided in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
Additional coverage:
Washington Post: "FBI Arrests Ill. Governor Rod Blagojevich"
New York Times: "Transcript: Justice Department Briefing on Blagojevich Investigation"
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Comments
B. McLeod
Dec 9, 2008 7:23 PM CST
In case readers haven’t been following Illinois politics, the Gov and AG are not buddies.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Blagojevich actually knows he is toast, but wants to hold out to see if he can get something in his federal plea deal in exchange for his resignation.
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akman
Dec 10, 2008 7:54 AM CST
The Democratic/Obama Culture of Corruption is in full swing. This is the change we have been waiting for.
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V. Maurer
Dec 10, 2008 9:20 AM CST
While the current state of affairs in Springfield, and indeed, Chicago and all of Illinois is ripe for cynicism it kills me how quickly opponents now try to swing the Governor’s indiscretions toward the President-elect. Perhaps read the complaint before casting judgement, and see that for all the evidence released so far, the Obama team was not willing to “pay to play.” See pages 63-66. I’ll also point out, that it was only two years ago, that George Ryan, a Republican, was also caught behaving badly in the Governor’s mansion and is now in federal prison. Corruption it would seem, is endemic in Illinois politics and not the exclusive purveyance of any one party. More importantly, the State of Illinois owes a debt to Pat Fitzgerald and the US Attorney’s Office for their diligent work on both cases.
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