Opinion: Illinois’ AG moves to suspend Gov. Blagojevich from all duties

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Today’s Illinois corruption capers: The Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed papers with the state’s highest court Friday essentially seeking to suspend legally-embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich from duty.

She provided a long list of actions he would not be permitted to perform, prime among them to name a successor to the vacant Barack Obama U.S. Senate seat, which he’s accused of auctioning off.

And Madigan, like Obama a former Democratic state senator (whose father, Mike, by the way, is Speaker of the Illinois House where any impeachment proceeding would begin), requested that the lieutenant governor take over. (Blagojevich’s accused chief of staff John Harris has already resigned.)

As Madigan notes in the helpful news video below, the Illinois Supreme Court does not have to take the case. Courts often prefer to leave such political things to elected legislators or executives.

And the Illinois legislature starts a special session Monday, to discuss a special election and/or to launch impeachment proceedings unless Blagojevich resigns, as almost everyone except his wife and father-in-law (a powerful Chicago alderman) have urged him to do.

For some background, here are links to a couple of our recent items on the case and on Chicago politics in general. Here. Here. Here. And for a lighter side click here and also here.

Madigan, by the way, will be the primary guest Sunday on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ and als on ‘Face the Nation.’ Our weekly Ticket listing of Sunday talk-show guests will publish as usual at noon Saturday, Pacific time.

--Andrew Malcolm

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