Fox News interviewed Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan today after the lower body voted unanimously to pursue impeachment. Madigan explains the process at length in this clip, and includes a few surprises:
Apparently, the impeachment process in Illinois does not require a showing of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” It’s a purely political process, which still requires supermajorities in both chambers for impeachment and removal. All their constitution says is that the House will be the sole judge of the causes for impeachment, which allows the House to take up the argument — offered by Madigan’s daughter, the Attorney General — that his arrest incapacitates Blagojevich politically to the point requiring removal.
Will Blagojevich back down? It doesn’t look like it. His high-powered attorney, Ed Genson, wants to appear before the impeachment committee to challenge their standing as well as their procedures. Madigan thinks that will delay the process considerably, although I’m not sure how. The state constitution gives the House the widest possible latitude in determining cause, and they have plenary standing to consider the question. But if Blagojevich had any thoughts about resigning, he wouldn’t be sending Genson to Springfield to gum up the works.
Madigan once again tries to distance himself from Blagojevich in this interview, claiming now that he refused to meet with the governor for a year after learning what kind of person he is. That seems mighty convenient, considering (a) Blagojevich had been governor for the five years previous, (b) Madigan served as a co-chair on his re-election campaign, and (c) Madigan hadn’t bothered to tell anyone that story until after Blagojevich’s arrest.
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