Embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich says he will boycott his upcoming impeachment trial, not as an act of defiance but rather to protest what he believes is an unfair process. At a news conference this afternoon in Chicago, an animated Blagojevich said he would not attend the trial, set to start Monday in Springfield, because under state Senate rules he would not be able to call certain witnesses or sufficiently challenge the charges, making the proceedings a "trampling of the Constitution."
"It's a scary thing if they get away with doing this," Blagojevich said of state legislators. "Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence?" he asked.
The governor said the real reason his impeachment trial is being pushed is because state leaders are tired of fighting his efforts to thwart tax increases. Today he accused the state's lawmakers of "just waiting to get me out of the way to raise the income tax."
As he has done since his Dec. 9 arrest on corruption charges, including allegedly attempting to sell President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat, Blagojevich today again maintained his innocence.
"Notwithstanding mistakes and errors in judgment from time to time," Blagojevich said, "most of the decisions I've done as governor have been the right thing."
Continuing to ignore repeated calls for his resignation, he cautioned that removing a governor from office without allowing witnesses to testify on his behalf sets a dangerous precedent.
"If you can throw a governor out with mere allegations & then no governor will be able to take on the General Assembly," he said.
Noting that he was a fan of old Western Cowboy movies, Blagojevich said, "under these rules, I'm not even getting a fair trial -- they're just hanging me."
At the Senate trial, neither the governor nor the prosecution would be allowed to call witnesses that federal prosecutors say could jeopardize the criminal corruption trial against the governor.