Blagojevich faces impeachment

The Illinois legislature this week voted unanimously to begin impeachment proceedings against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who brushed aside growing calls for his resignation. “He’s not guilty, so we’re going to court,” said his attorney Edward Genson. On a vote of 113 to 0, the legislature said it would move with “all due speed” to remove Blagojevich, charged last week in a web of corruption, including an attempt to sell Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat. But the impeachment process was beset by a request by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to delay testimony to avoid undermining the criminal case.

Several legislators introduced bills to eliminate the governor’s power to fill vacant seats and to hold special elections instead. But Democrats, who control the legislature, are reluctant to sanction an election that could result in a Republican win.

It’s clear that Blagojevich should resign, and equally clear that he won’t, said the Chicago Sun-Times in an editorial. The expletive-filled tapes released by Fitzgerald reveal our governor as “the type of fellow who can never have enough cash.” If he resigns, “the paycheck stops.” So he’ll cling to office as long as he can.

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No matter what Blagojevich does, said Barry Coburn in The New York Times, Fitzgerald should shut up. Prosecutors are supposed to ensure that justice prevails, not win a conviction at any cost. When Fitzgerald declared that Blagojevich was engaged in “a political crime spree,” he produced a great sound bite, but he was poisoning any potential jury. The time for Fitzgerald to make his case is when “the jury is in the box.”

But the rest of us are free to heap on Blagojevich all the abuse he deserves, said Scott Simon in The Wall Street Journal. Surveillance tapes show Blagojevich threatened to rescind an $8 million payment to a children’s hospital if its CEO “failed to organize a $50,000 contribution.” A politician willing to shake down sick children may or may not be a criminal, but he certainly deserves “a seat in hell.”