Obama frustrated, Supreme Court dismissive, Blagojevich runs
Today's Illinois corruption capsule:
The Illinois Supreme Court chucked out -- with no comment -- the state attorney general's effort to have embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich suspended from duties in general, particularly naming a replacement to Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.
Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan had sought the long-shot legal bid while the state Legislature's time-consuming impeachment process grinds on under the leadership of her father, House Speaker Mike Madigan.
Republicans are also seeking to have expensive but air-clearing special statewide primary and general Senate elections by April because that way they have a chance of winning. The Democrats tend to frown on that idea and like the notion of Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn automatically succeeding Blagojevich and naming the replacement. You'll never guess which party Quinn belongs to.
At another one of his Cabinet-naming news conferences in Chicago, President-elect Obama, a one-time political ally of the governor's with a common (now imprisoned) fundraiser in Antoin "Tony" Rezko, said he found it really "frustrating" to be unable to list and explain his office's legitimate contacts with the governor, who's accused of trying to sell the seat. Obama says the U.S. attorney has asked him to delay the release.
As foreseen by The Ticket last week, the contact list will now not be released until next week at the earliest. That's when, oh, gee, look, Obama will be out of camera range in Hawaii on vacation and unavailable for questions for 10 days while the world focuses on the holidays and maybe stops wondering what Obama's new chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, and/or possibly others were talking about with Blagojevich.
The governor in this Tribune video (top) also appears to be running off. However, he's just jogging through Chicago's snowy streets, which he says he does daily to clear his head.
-- Andrew Malcolm
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I AM FROM ILLINOIS AND I VOTED FOR THE GOVERNOR BLOVO, I WOULD LIKE FOR PEOPLE LIKE BILL O'RIELLY TO KEEP THEIR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT GOV,ROD ,NOT ALL THE DEMOCRATS HERE ARE CROOKS AND US SENIOR CITIZENS STAND TO LOOSE LOTS OF PROGRAMS IN OUR FAVOR THAT OUR GOVERNOR HAS HELPED US WITH.BILL IF YOU ARE A VOTER IN ILLINOIS THEN GOOD BUT IF NOT YOU ARE BAD YOU ARE STOMPING ON VOTERS GROUND AND LEAVE IT ALONE.OBAMA IS LOWER THAN OUR GOVERNOR AND LOOK AT WHERE HE STANDS TODAY, GOOD LUCK AMERICA.
Posted by: MARY | January 01, 2009 at 06:13 PM
Hey Mary ! Santa Claus is not for real and there is no such thing as an honest elected Illinois democrat.
Posted by: Rip Van Winkle Jr to Mary | January 02, 2009 at 09:23 PM