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| Ill. sinks deeper into chaos over scandal |
| 2008-12-13 |
| Illinois plunged deeper into turmoil Friday over disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich as the attorney general asked the state's highest court to strip the governor of his powers, billions of dollars in bills went unpaid and lawmakers moved closer to impeaching the scandal-plagued politician. But Blagojevich showed no sign of backing down. He took time to pray with ministers at his home and signed a bill that extends insurance coverage for autistic kids, sending a sign to his critics that he's still in charge. In the midst of it all, the state headed toward an extraordinary constitutional showdown. Attorney General Lisa Madigan asked the Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich unfit to serve, likening his corruption scandal to a debilitating illness as she ramped up pressure on the governor to resign. The move seeks to hand power over to the lieutenant governor. "I recognize that this is an extraordinary request, but these are extraordinary circumstances," Madigan said. It is the first time in Illinois history that such an action was taken. The attorney general is applying a rule that was intended to cover cases in which a governor is incapacitated for health reasons. The Democrat is "unable to serve as governor due to disability and should not rightfully continue to hold that office," according to the motion. "His ability to provide effective leadership has been eliminated, and the state government is paralyzed." The attorney general, also a Democrat, asked the court to strip the governor of his duties until possible impeachment proceedings and his criminal case run their course. If he does not step down and is not impeached or convicted, Blagojevich could go to the court and ask to be reinstated. The scandal has also begun to impede state business, Madigan said. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #11 The AG is trying to get the Illinois Supreme Court to declare Blagojevich as disabled so as to avoid an impeachment hearing. Could get messy as I'm sure Blagojevich has lots of REALLY interesting information about many of the members of the state legislature. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2008-12-13 18:56 |
| #10 Come on Feds, take Blago down and let's get the Anvil Chorus singing about Crook O'Bama. Wouldn't it be great to see the "lightworker" impeached before he's six months into his term? If this bunch of corrupt Democrat Party bastards was in some other country, I'd be laughing loudly at their stupidity. Unfortunately for America, they're here. |
| Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 2008-12-13 17:15 |
| #9 1) The ISC should reject the request from Daddy's Girl. The proper way to remove Blago is impeachment. 2) Daddy's Girl is worried that a Republican challenger in the next gov campaign would tag her for doing nothing about Blago while she was attorney general, much the way Blago tagged his challenger in the 2002 race. That challenger was the then Repub attorney general who hadn't done anything to remove George Ryan. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2008-12-13 14:21 |
| #8 The state AG wants the SC to do the heavy lifting in because she has her eye on the Gov's seat -- and as we all now know, free IL government seats are rare. The fact that it took Fed bumbler Fitzie to find fraud that the AG couldn't says something about her that some honest IL voters (but I contradict myself) may want to take note of |
| Posted by: regular joe 2008-12-13 14:04 |
| #7 Biden was talking foreign issues Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. |
| Posted by: DoDo 2008-12-13 12:30 |
| #6 I'm a hoping da Mayor goes down! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2008-12-13 11:28 |
| #5 mabey, just mabey he will go down with the rest of the Chicago scum he assiciates with |
| Posted by: sick of this crap 2008-12-13 11:02 |
| #4 People driven by anger and hate do stupid things. Obama is elected because of irrationality and hate. First Dems who hate the Clintons, then people who hate Bush. It s actually that simple. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-12-13 10:41 |
| #3 Biden was talking foreign issues, I think.  But yeah - when a lot of people were cheering Obama on because they hated Hillary I kept worrying about the fact that he's a hard left thug who learned politics in the Chicago wards. We are going to pay for his nomination and election in so many ways it hurts to count them. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-12-13 09:24 |
| #2 Biden was taking about crisis in the first six months of Obama presidency. Just a bit off on time scale Joe? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-12-13 06:53 |
| #1 Viewers, please take a hard, long look at Hang in there Rod! Keep that Illinois Police Security detail close at hand. You'll be joining Tony in coming clean duet very soon. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-12-13 06:52 |