From the too little, too late department, the Associated Press is reporting:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Driven by anger and politics, the Illinois House has voted to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The unprecedented action sets the stage for a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out of office for corruption and abuse of power.
Who knows what jokers in the Illinois Senate will do.
Addendum(Bit):
Too little, too late and in the wrong direction, too, as James Joyner reminds us:
The committee on Thursday unanimously recommended impeachment based on the criminal charges but other allegations as well — that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without proper authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions of dollars on foreign flu vaccine that he knew wasn’t needed and couldn’t be brought into the country.
This is the right outcome but the wrong process. While impeachment is not a criminal trial and the Illinois House can, in practice, impeach for whatever it wants, the intent was that it be reserved for criminal conduct. While I have little doubt that Blagojevich committed crimes, he was impeached for unpopular policies. That’s a decidedly bad precedent.
Just so. That’s particulrly true when the people passing judgement are demonstrably no better than he in terms of integrity. About time to call in an airstrike on Springfield, isn’t it?
And given the nature of the healthcare issues, one wonders how this is going to play on the forthcoming “Hillary-Care round two” debates?
Tags: abuse of power, Corruption, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, illinios, jokers, senate trial, springfield ill, unprecedented action
