The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Governor Rod Blagojevich has been taken into federal custody. Even if this is a false lead, it is only a matter of time, as he is under heavy investigation.
Yes, I voted for the clown. The alternative was Judy Baar Topinka. Moving on.
As President-elect Obama has vacated his U.S. Senate seat, which only the governor of Illinois can fill, the timing is particularly bad. I am sadly no Illinois constitutional expert, but I'm guessing that the Lieutenant Governor would be the acting Governor (Wikipedia: "Prior to the adoption of the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the Lieutenant Governor also served as the presiding officer of the state Senate. Losing this position made the Lt. Governor's job even less significant, and contributed to the "boredom" cited by Jim Thompson's first lieutenant governor, Dave O'Neal, on July 31, 1981, when he resigned the office.")
The Lieutenant Governor is Pat Quinn, Georgetown undergrad from Hinsdale. However, to complicate things, I found the following on his Wikipedia page: "With the election of Senator Barack Obama as President in 2008, Quinn is considered a possible candidate to be appointed to succeed Obama in the U.S. Senate." Obviously, Quinn would be a fool to head to the Senate when he could be governor and take credit for once and for all bringing reform to Springfield. No more crooks in the Governor's Mansion!
Although Blagojevich never did anything for Obama's campaign (asked, I'm sure to keep away), it looks pretty bad for the President-elect that his home state is in a shambles, especially as Obama is running much of his transition effort out of Chicago (home of Daley, yikes).
I'd like to see Lisa Madigan in the Obama seat. Her hands aren't completely clean of the mess, as she is the daughter of Speaker Mike Madigan who has been leading the legislative faction against Blagojevich, which is noble until it shuts down state business, which it has. However, she is one of the few Illinois politicians I look up to besides the President-elect and Senator Dick Durbin.
In short, Illinois politics are an absolute mess. More to come. To think I thought I would be bored after November 4...
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