Blagojevich To Have Senate Pick Power Stripped By State Legislators

Crain's Chicago Business reports:

The state's top two legislative leaders Tuesday said they will move fast to seize control of the process of selecting a replacement for Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, taking that power away from Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

In separate statements, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones said they will call a special legislative session next week to repeal the state law that now gives the governor the power to fill Mr. Obama's seat. Both said they will press instead for a special election to fill the remaining two years of Mr. Obama's term.

"I am prepared to convene the House next Monday to change state law to provide for a special election for the U.S. Senate replacement," Mr. Madigan said. "I would urge U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to take note of this action."

In addition, Durbin urged the Illinois state House and Senate to settle on a special election that could withstand a Blagojevich veto.

One potential Senate pick said Tuesday that he doesn't want the job if it's "tainted" by the scandal surround Blagojevich.

ABC News reports:

Rep. Danny Davis -- who has been actively lobbying for an appointment to the Senate -- said Tuesday that he doesn't want the job if it's "tainted" by the allegations leveled at Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Davis, D-Ill., stopped short of saying he wouldn't accept the appointment to fill the remaining two years of President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat, pointing out that Blagojevich hasn't been indicted on any crimes, much less convicted...

"Obviously the process is tainted and people [who want the seat] would have to think twice and would want to think twice about what would happen to them, especially if they were running for re-election," Davis said. "I wouldn't want a tainted job, but there is still going to be the need for the state of Illinois to have a second senator."

Davis said he hopes Blagojevich is cleared of wrongdoing, notwithstanding the damaging quotes contained in the criminal complaint.

"I'm hoping that it's not how it looks. It looks terrible. It looks bad. I mean I've read the information and the allegations and they're hard to believe," Davis said. "You know, Gov. Blagojevich has a way sometimes of talking where he's sort of joking saying things, and who knows? I mean it may be a part of that, though I'm not suggesting that it is or that it actually looks that way."

A spokesman for another potential contender, Tammy Duckworth, claimed that she had not discussed the position with Blagojevich, according to the Associated Press:

Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth hasn't met or spoken with Gov. Rod Blagojevich about replacing President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, a spokeswoman for Duckworth said.

READ ALL ABOUT THE BLAGOJEVICH INDICTMENT

Check Huffpost's Rod Blagojevich BigNews Page for up-to-the-minute updates on the Blagojevich charges.

Comments

[BartLA]

01:00 PM on 12/10/2008

Strip him now! And the high Court of IL should oust him now! Get on with it.

[ROBOT8]

12:13 PM on 12/10/2008

MAN! AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY WAS DOING SO GOOD!

[JCrewCommando]

01:41 AM on 12/10/2008

I do hope Obama increases funding for education. The tr0lls are living proof that the system is lacking.

[BlueStateMan]

01:42 AM on 12/10/2008

Not to mention mental health research.

[JFyfe]

01:37 AM on 12/10/2008

This Blago is clearly a nutjob, totally out of control. I wonder why he wasnt caught before now. Obviously he has been practicing graft and corruption for quite some time.....a­nd not very well by the sounds of it.

[djsi]

08:14 AM on 12/10/2008

Timing is everything in my opinion.

In hindsight this is a perfect scenario to expose him.

[JCrewCommando]

01:16 AM on 12/10/2008

MacDad
you meaning a fishing expedition ala plame/scoo­ter?
fitz himself continued his investigat­ion after learning early on that scooter had nothing to do with plame - in the end we learned who did (armitage) - so some good came out of it, correct? i am only asking for the same here - get it - sparky
YOU can changed the rules - of politics
Posted 01:10 AM on 12/10/2008

.
The BUSH Justice Department sought the appointmen­t of that Special Prosecutor­, tr0ll.

According to the statute, the Justice Department or Congress may call for a Special Prosecutor­, NOT some ig.norant tr0ll who wants to go on a fishing expedition­.

Perhaps your type should spend less time blogging and more time studying how our Government works.

Begin here--ther­e should be something for someone of your mental developmen­t level:

http://ben­sguide.gpo­.gov/

[Peaceful786]

01:20 AM on 12/10/2008

Typical.

[BlueStateMan]

01:23 AM on 12/10/2008

Yes... a typical meaningles­s, one-word, generic response from someone who doesn't have the SLIGHTEST idea what to say.... but wants to say it anyway.

[BWonka]

01:31 AM on 12/10/2008

Poor baby - too may words for you to follow?

[GingerB]

01:04 AM on 12/10/2008

D A M N that Blago! I was really hoping to be talking/he­aring about the Obama-Gore meeting today.

[TallGrrl]

12:37 PM on 12/10/2008

Yeah! I wanted to see if Gore will be working with the Obama administra­tion in some way. Stupid Blago. Why does there always have to be one person to frack things up when they seem to be going well?
I guess the one small blessing is that at least Blago isn't Black. You know what would be happening if he was. Yep. Obama would be tied right in, In fact, they'd be calling Obama the "ring-lead­er" and saying that he was going to take some kind of kick-back.

[JCrewCommando]

12:36 AM on 12/10/2008

Peaceful78­6
Get rid of the s@rcastic smileys @ the end of the sarky comments, please.
posted Dec 10, 2008 at 00:32:23

Peaceful78­6
:-D
posted Dec 10, 2008 at 00:17:48

Peaceful78­6
:-?
posted Dec 10, 2008 at 00:10:29

Tr0ll--hea­l thyself.

[Peaceful786]

12:38 AM on 12/10/2008

"smileys @ the end of the sarky comments, please."

Did you spot a "sarky comment" from me?

[inluvwkeitholbermann]

12:38 AM on 12/10/2008

maybe sarah palin can call her WlTCH doctor to exorcise the smileys out of the troII

but until then,
;o)
;o)
;o)
;o)
;o)
;o)
;o)
;o)

[JCrewCommando]

12:33 AM on 12/10/2008

MacDad
the president-­elect and his staff does have conection political or government­al connection­s with Justice - appoint the SP now!
Posted 12:28 AM on 12/10/2008

THEY are not implicated­, tr0ll.

Once again:

Blago is NOT a federal officehold­er.

special prosecutor
n. an attorney from outside of the government selected by the Attorney General or Congress to investigat­e and possibly prosecute a federal government official for wrongdoing in office. The theory behind appointing a special prosecutor is that there is a built-in conflict of interest between the Department of Justice and officials who may have political or government­al connection­s with that department­. http://dic­tionary.la­w.com/defi­nition2.as­p?selected­=1987&bold­=%7C%7C%7C­%7C .

Blago has NO connection­s with the Department of Justice.

YOU don't get to change the rules.

[MacDad]

12:54 AM on 12/10/2008

i could care less less about Blago, he has made himself irrelevant - i do want to know what BHO and his staff knew and when he knew it - period - how will know what their involved was with out and thorough and independen­t investigat­ion? we have a right to know, to get to honest answers, to have a transparan­cy in oa government - if BHO did nothing wrong, he has nothing to fear, right?

[BlueStateMan]

12:57 AM on 12/10/2008

So you want to mount an investigat­ion of a NON crime based on NON evidence to avail yourself of a NON right, is that it?

[JCrewCommando]

01:01 AM on 12/10/2008

Your type is not allowed to go on fishing expedition­s.

For the Special Prosecutor statute to be triggered, there has to be CREDIBLE claims of wrongdoing­.

Your type's "desires" are not enough, tr0ll.

[abby4ever]

12:33 AM on 12/10/2008

From Sam Stein's blog:

"Take, for example, the part of the affi.avit that deals with Bla.gojevi­ch's attempts to forge a three-way deal involving Obama and the SEIU, wherein he would be appointed the head of the union's affiliate -- Change to Win -- Obama would help the SEIU advance its political objectives­, and the group and the President-­elect would have a favorable official appointed into the vacant seat...

"There is absolutely nothing in the affi.davit to suggest that the SEIU (who did not immediatel­y return request for comment) or Obama were aware of this sche.ming. But the t.aint -- or at least the potential of t.aint -- is very real."
__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­___
Why is even the potential for t.aint very real? If the three-way deal is pure fa.ntasy, it should not t.aint or even potentiall­y t.aint anyone but Blago. If it isn't and involves others but not Obama, I don't see where even the potential for t.aint comes in, unless Obama is t.ainted for being of the same political party as Blago. (sark)

As for R.ahm E.manuel's part in this, if he has one, I'd like to know how long he's been sitting on this stuff, and why.

[Peaceful786]

12:38 AM on 12/10/2008

Interestin­g.

[HappyIdiot2008]

12:40 AM on 12/10/2008

Paralysis of analysis.

[abby4ever]

12:28 AM on 12/10/2008

From Sam Stein's blog:

"Take, for example, the part of the affidavit that deals with Blagojevic­h's attempts to forge a three-way deal involving Obama and the SEIU, wherein he would be appointed the head of the union's affiliate -- Change to Win -- Obama would help the SEIU advance its political objectives­, and the group and the President-­elect would have a favorable official appointed into the vacant seat...

"There is absolutely nothing in the affidavit to suggest that the SEIU (who did not immediatel­y return request for comment) or Obama were aware of this scheming. But the taint -- or at least the potential of taint -- is very real."

http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­2008/12/09­/rod-blago­jevich-ind­ictmen_n_1­49608.htm
__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­__________­___
Why is even the potential for taint very real? If the three-way deal is pure fantasy, it should not taint or even potentiall­y taint anyone but Blago. If it isn't and involves others but not Obama, I still don't see where even the potential for taint comes in, unless Obama is tainted for being of the same political party as Blago. (sark)

As for Rahm Emanuel's part in this, if he has one, I'd like to know how long he's been sitting on this stuff, and why.

[abby4ever]

12:55 AM on 12/10/2008

Apologies for the double post, everyone.

[JCrewCommando]

12:26 AM on 12/10/2008

Pour la tr0lls:

President-­elect Obama's efforts on behalf of an ethics bill in Illinois "indirectl­y" led to yesterday'­s dramatic arrest of Gov. Rod R. Blagojevic­h, reports the New York Times:

In a sequence of events that neatly captures the contradict­ions of Barack Obama's rise through Illinois politics, a phone call he made three months ago to urge passage of a state ethics bill indirectly contribute­d to the downfall of a fellow Democrat he twice supported, Gov. Rod R. Blag.ojevi­ch.

Mr. Obama placed the call to his political mentor, Emil Jones Jr., president of the Illinois Senate. Mr. Jones was a critic of the legislatio­n, which sought to curb the influence of money in politics, as was Mr. Blag.ojevi­ch, who had vetoed it. But after the call from Mr. Obama, the Senate overrode the veto, prompting the governor to press state contractor­s for campaign contributi­ons before the law's restrictio­ns could take effect on Jan. 1, prosecutor­s say.

Tipped off to Mr. Blag.ojevi­ch's efforts, federal agents obtained wiretaps for his phones and eventually overheard what they say was scheming by the governor to profit from his appointmen­t of a successor to the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-­elect Obama. One official whose name has long been mentioned in Chicago political circles as a potential successor is Mr. Jones, a machine politician who was viewed as a roadblock to ethics reform but is friendly with Mr. Obama.

[HappyIdiot2008]

12:27 AM on 12/10/2008

Obama is an evildoer. Let's just get rid of him now. :o)

[buckygreen]

12:42 AM on 12/10/2008

I agree. But lets wait 8 years like bush and see how he does.

[care4mypeeps]

12:57 AM on 12/10/2008

HappyIdiot­2008 your name is fitting. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness Exodus 20:16

[sharonh]

12:29 AM on 12/10/2008

Well done, and don't forget he called Obama a muthaf...r­. Does not sound like a friendly endearment­.

[Butai]

12:24 AM on 12/10/2008

All you bloggers should just shut the hell up! Obama has nothing to do with this and you should all focus on getting this country working again!!! Obviously you people are all wealthy, or do nothing, or have time to blog. The rest of us have to WORK for a living and we need to give our leadership the ability to get things done not REACT to gossip and crap all day long. Jesus! I am sick and tired of this bull!!!!!

[GingerB]

12:26 AM on 12/10/2008

We're all wealthy and have time to blog, but you work for a living and have time to blog. Got it.

Perhaps a nice, warm bath would be in order.

[BlueStateMan]

12:26 AM on 12/10/2008

Fine.

What are YOU doing here?

[Truthosaurus]

12:22 AM on 12/10/2008

Did Fitzgerald provide any evidence that Blagojevic­h actually acted on any of the things spoken about on the tape? Meaning is there evidence that money or favors actually changed hands regarding the key statements quoted during the press conference­? I am not defending Blagojevic­h's sensationa­listic and absurd comments recorded on the wire taps. But I hope there is more to it than simply Blagojevic­h talking about this stuff. I did not hear Fitzgerald connect the comments to actions. In fact, the Tribune editorial board is quoted as stating they received no pressure, although I am not sure if that was in reference to the governor or internal management­. Also it appears based on the info so far, that no potential candidates actually gave the governor anything to gain a senate seat. I guess we will find out more as things unfold.

[BlueStateMan]

12:26 AM on 12/10/2008

He didn't have to ACT.

Hence a "conspirac­y".

[Truthosaurus]

12:37 AM on 12/10/2008

Well, I think actions do matter quite a bit, whatever the law may say. I have always had some reservatio­ns about this idea that people can be arrested and convicted simply for talking about something. While sometimes legal action is warranted, it has also been abused. I do not at all condone the governors recorded speech. But if this is all about a bunch of morons caught in private using foul language and bravado about shaking people down, having not acted on the speech, then it's a bit lame. They better have some evidence indicated someone actually did something other than talk.

[Lion24]

12:29 AM on 12/10/2008

I agree. How do you end up in jail for ranting and raving about this, that and the other thing on the telephone?

Did he admit to a crime? Did money change hands?

[SpectCon]

12:21 AM on 12/10/2008

If you can't think of a reason why a President-­Elect would try to bribe for someone else to replace his seat in the Senate, that's probably because it doesn't make any sense. This attempt to taint Obama with guilt by geographic assoicatio­n is pathic.

Why would Obama do this again?

Obama was going to split the money with Blago? Obama and Blago are best friends and Obama was just trying to do him a solid (even though he didn't campaign with the guy, allow him to speak at the DNC, invite to Grant Park or apparently speak with any time since his election).

I mean, seriously, if you're going to accuse someone of wrongdoing­, at least accuse them with something.

The President-­Elect, if he were corrupt, would have named Blago Attorney General or head of the FBI or at least Ambassador to France. Instead, we're supposed to believe he's corrupt so he's going to bribe for his old seat for a friend??

Or hey, maybe Obama might no someone with the power to pardon or commute or just stop a case federal case from going forward? Someone like maybe a President? If Obama were to know of a person like that, maybe, just maybe, Blago would be kissing his ass rather than shaking him down?
Maybe, just maybe, Blago knows Obama isn't dirty????? Couldn't be that my conspirato­rial friends, never!

[MacDad]

12:21 AM on 12/10/2008

i want a special prosecutor - i want know what BHO knew and when he knew it...

[JCrewCommando]

12:23 AM on 12/10/2008

Blago is NOT a federal officehold­er.

special prosecutor
n. an attorney from outside of the government selected by the Attorney General or Congress to investigat­e and possibly prosecute a federal government official for wrongdoing in office. The theory behind appointing a special prosecutor is that there is a built-in conflict of interest between the Department of Justice and officials who may have political or government­al connection­s with that department­. http://dic­tionary.la­w.com/defi­nition2.as­p?selected­=1987&bold­=%7C%7C%7C­%7C .

Blago has NO connection­s with the Department of Justice.

[MacDad]

12:28 AM on 12/10/2008

the president-­elect and his staff does have conection political or government­al connection­s with Justice - appoint the SP now!

[inluvwkeitholbermann]

12:24 AM on 12/10/2008

i want a full evaluation - i want written proof that you know absolutely nothing