Chicago, IL – Rod Blagojevich is no longer Illinois’ governor. Blagojevich was ousted from office Thursday by the Illinois Senate. His removal capped a state crisis that began with his Dec. 9 arrest on corruption charges _ including that he tried to sell President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat.
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The 52-year-old Democrat gave a passionate closing statement claiming he did nothing wrong. It didn’t sway senators, who voted 59-0 to remove him for abuse of power.
Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn immediately becomes governor.
Blagojevich had defiantly resisted intense pressure to quit.
The Senate impeachment trial lasted four days. Blagojevich had blasted the proceedings and unfair and refused to participate until the final day.
Last year VIN News exclusively covered a story from An orthodox Rabbi from Chicago that claimed all along that Blagojevich was corrupt, as the Rabbi himself witnessed it first hand.
A list of the eight U.S. governors impeached and removed from office:
WILLIAM W. HOLDEN of North Carolina, 1871.
Holden was removed after he sent a militia to quell violence by the Ku Klux Klan, and suspended the right of habeas corpus for accused Klan leaders. He also had several political opponents arrested.
DAVID BUTLER, Nebraska’s first governor, 1871.
Butler was removed for misappropriating school funds, but the impeachment proceedings were later expunged from the legislative record and in 1888 he was elected to another term as governor.
WILLIAM SULZER, New York, 1913.
The state Senate convicted him of misappropriation of funds. Sulzer, a product of New York City’s Tammany Hall political machine, snubbed its patronage demands after he was elected and launched an investigation of corruption. Legislators then dredged up charges of financial irregularities, which even some anti-Tammany forces agreed were true.
JAMES E. FERGUSON, Texas, 1917.
“Farmer Jim” Ferguson was convicted by the Senate on 10 charges, some stemming from a fight over control of the University of Texas. Ferguson resigned a day before his conviction was announced. His wife, Miriam “Ma” Ferguson, was twice elected governor, serving from 1925-27 and 1933-35.
JOHN C. WALTON, Oklahoma, 1923.
He had declared martial law and ordered the National Guard to disband a grand jury that was investigating him. The House returned 22 articles of impeachment ranging from violation of the separation of powers to diverting public funds.
HENRY S. JOHNSTON, Oklahoma, 1929.
Johnston had ordered the National Guard to surround the Capitol to prevent the Legislature from assembling to investigate the governor. Johnston was impeached but not convicted in 1928, but was impeached again the next year and removed.
EVAN MECHAM, Arizona, 1988.
Mecham was convicted of attempting to thwart an investigation into a death threat allegedly made by an aide in fall 1987. The vote in the state Senate was 21-9, one more vote than the two-thirds needed. A second Senate vote then convicted him on an unrelated count.
ROD BLAGOJEVICH, Illinois, 2009.
Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges, including allegations that he tried to sell the appointment to fill President Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder. He was impeached by the Illinois House on Jan. 9 and convicted and removed by the Senate on Jan. 29.
Yes,we all knew this was coming. But it does not remove the old creep he put into the senate.
I don’t think they are right for pushing him out, because they didn’t gave him a chance to speak up.
I like the way most of the state senators in Illinois gave a holier than thou speech against the governor. The only reason Blagojevich was ousted is because he got caught. There was one senator who I heard saying yes, the governor is guilty. But what about the people around him? Why did’nt any of them say, wait a minute, is’nt what your saying or doing illegal or unethical? Not one of them said anything like that! Sad testament to our political system.
The bigger issue is that the lazy media spent no time vetting Obama and his cronies. Now that he is in, they’ll look.
You’re missing the bigger story… If the media did the same coverage for Blagojevich as they did for BHO and his cronies,
Look I have issues with GWB too. But he wasn’t on the ballot.
BHO is a Marxist. Pay attention to his executive orders, what he signs, etc. It’s out of the Saul Alinsky and Karl Marx manuals.
I will not get over it. He will be judged by his actions. I will not personally attack him like what the left did to GWB. I will pray that his socialist agenda fails.
President Obama has never been politically close to Blagojevich, who also had many opponents among the Democrats in the Illinois legislature especially the Speaker of the Illinois House (whose daughter is that state’s Attorney General). They had been opposing him for years. Also note that Blagojevich’s predecessor, a Republican, is currently doing time in federal prison for corruption.