Illinois Senate Kicks Blagojevich Out of Office. Now we just need an investigation into B.O.s involvement. It was his former Senate seat... What did he know, and when did he know it?!?
The Illinois Senate also voted to bar Blago from ever holding office again. As if he'd even get his wife's vote right now ...
#2
I'm sure that there were more than a few 'tight sphincters' in both houses of the Illinois legislature today.
The quicker they could get this done, the better (before the 'flashlights of truth' could shine into all the dark nooks and crannies).
Not much will will be done by the US DOJ in the way of 'spreading out' their investigations either, I'm afraid. Obstruction by the new improved Executive Branch will see to that. What we know now will probably be all that there is made public.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/29/2009 18:35 Comments ||
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#3
Icould have been a contender, I could have somebody
#8
I'm afraid this ends USA Fitzgerald's career in Chicago. All the remainders from all camps, POTUS-Mayor Daley-Cook Co machine, are aligned in agreement that this strand of corruption Rezko to Blagojevich is sufficient for the task assigned.
That, and we're relying on Sens. Durbin and Burris to carry the political fight for his retention.
I suspect AG Holder will have enough cover to include Fitz in the group which will leave, and they may give him a parting enticement of some sort - ambassador/judgeship/asst. cabinet post in a security function.
WASHINGTON House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says that while critics may quibble with some elements of spending in the $819 billion economic rescue plan, Democrats were willing to act and Republicans were not.
Discussing the plan that the House approved on a strictly party line vote, Pelosi acknowledged Republican criticism that large sums of money are set aside for favored Democratic programs such as aid to education and Medicare. But she said "we are definitely stepping up to the plate to say we'll be accountable."
The California Democrat also said that Republicans are failing on the policy aspects of reviving the struggling economy.
In an interview broadcast Thursday on CBS's "The Early Show," Pelosi said Republicans "have had their chance. They decided to oppose. That's their choice."
#2
Really? Then I can be suitably shocked when people get angry and the Dems claim it was all Bush's fault?
The stimulous is a huge transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the wealthy and well connected. I guess by expressing their pride in this act the Dems are going with the "Big Lie" rather than the "Little Lie".
#4
It's the biggest heist in history but we don't need to worry because old San Fran Nan is gonna be "accountable". Does that mean we'll get to see her doing the perp walk any time soon?
#6
Because nothing says trust me like and administration with a tax cheat heading the IRS and pelosi's word.
And yes, Republicans are failing by not getting the word out and articulating how the market system works, and how our tax money is really being spent. Perhaps instead of such abstract numbers as trillions start with every item being listed as cost per person, hummm? Something loud and public. Every R voted against it this round, great but that shouldn't be news.
*anyone ever wanted to snap your fingers and suddenly all cosmetic surgery in DC is nullified and everyone reverts to what they would look like naturally?
Reporting from Springfield, Ill. -- Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich will come to Springfield to make the closing argument in his impeachment trial Thursday, state Senate President John J. Cullerton said.
Blagojevich, who has boycotted the impeachment trial so far, will not take questions from senators, Cullerton said. Cullerton broke the news to the Senate as he was going over scheduling. The Senate had been expecting final witnesses today and a single closing argument Thursday morning from House prosecutor David Ellis.
Now, they expect the governor to appear before the Senate. Under the trial rules, he has to ask for permission to speak. It's a motion the Senate is expected to approve.
"I've been informed that the governor would like to come here tomorrow," Cullerton told the Senate. "We would have to give him permission to do that -- I would urge us all to give him that leave so he can argue as his own attorney."
Blagojevich spokeswoman Katie Ridgway said she "can confirm the governor will be down in Springfield to speak before the Senate" to make the closing argument.
The announcement came several hours after Cullerton challenged Blagojevich to stop giving national television interviews and to take questions directly from lawmakers at his impeachment trial. In "hiding out in New York and having Larry King asking questions instead of the senators, I think he's making a mistake," Cullerton said outside Senate chambers. "He should come here and answer the questions and provide the context that he claims these statements are being taken out of."
Cullerton also took issue with Blagojevich's complaints that the trial is unfairly stacked against him.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Actually, BP, everybody knows Blago's a Democrat. The crook that Obama named for Sec'y of Transportation is a sort of Republican. In Chicago, the crooks are the Daley Machine, which is Democrat; Downstate the crooks are the Republican Combine (I don't know if "Combine" is a common term or a John Kass coinage).
They all come from the same cesspool. Party titles are for convenience only.
For your edification and entertainment, here is a link to John Kass's column.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists
#3
Kass is a promary source, but don't forget Kjellander - the RNC member from the state. He's a friend of Rove and thoroughly enmeshed with the bi-partisan machine here.
Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker, whose department has been rocked by controversy, said Tuesday that he will resign next month and blasted the City Council for paying "lip service to their commitment to public safety."
Tucker, 65, said at a news conference at Oakland City Hall that he will step down Feb. 28 after serving more than four years as chief. He stressed that he has not been fired - nor has he been asked to resign - but that he is leaving because that is what is best for the city and that "quite frankly, I've lost faith in this council."
"I think when the council and the chief of police, regardless of who's making the decision, are finding themselves with irreconcilable differences, that it's time for one of them to go, and I've chosen myself to be the one to go," Tucker said.
He made the announcement hours before four City Council members prepared to discuss their plans to hold a vote of no confidence in Tucker, citing spiraling violent crime, a below-average rate of crimes solved and a stream of negative publicity. Tucker described the council's criticism of him as "for the most part inaccurate."
The leaders of the proposal, Council President Jane Brunner and members Larry Reid, Desley Brooks and Pat Kernighan, called off their news conference after Tucker's announcement.
The chief, whose salary is $205,000, serves at the pleasure of Mayor Ron Dellums. The mayor said he accepted Tucker's resignation with regret and that an interim police chief will run the department after Tucker leaves. Dellums did not say who that will be or how the chief will be selected.
Dellums praised Tucker's work in overseeing changes in the department in the wake of the "Riders" scandal. In that case, several officers were acquitted of criminal charges that they had planted evidence and beat suspects in West Oakland in 2000, but the city paid a $10.5 million civil settlement and agreed to implement reforms under the supervision of a federal judge.
"If history is recorded correctly, Chief Tucker has been an instrument of change moving forward, has been committed to reforms in the Oakland Police Department, has been respectful of the role of the courts in moving that mandate forward. Many of the changes that now have taken place have moved Oakland well forward in a very dramatic way," Dellums said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I can only wonder how ugly it must be to work under the Oakland city council.
#4
Now I remember where I've heard Dellums' name before:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Dellums
He was the darling of the local antiwar elite and made a lot of visits in the Chicago area in the 70s.
#6
Oakland is 578% better now than it was when I was a kid, but its still a festering sh*thole where they don't want the police to really clean it up. When they finally grow a set and decide to fix it, it will be fixed. They've done it to many other towns that were just as screwed up.
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Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker, whose department has been rocked by controversy, said Tuesday that he will resign next month and blasted the City Council for paying "lip service to their commitment to public safety." 
