Impeached Illinois governor vows fight

[Guest guest]

http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/568598

BLAGOJEVICH CASE

TheStar.com | World |

Impeached Illinois governor vows fight

Remains defiant after overwhelming House vote sets up Senate trial

Jan 10, 2009 04:30 AM

NEW YORK TIMES

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SPRINGFIELD–The Illinois House of Representatives voted

overwhelmingly yesterday to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich on the

grounds of abuse of power.

He is the first Illinois governor to be impeached, and his case now

goes to the state Senate for trial.

The House deliberated less than 90 minutes before voting 114-1 to

oust the governor, just one day after a 21-member House investigative

committee unanimously recommended impeachment.

Blagojevich, 52, was jogging in his Chicago neighbourhood when the

vote came down.

Later, a defiant Blagojevich insisted he committed no crime, and

declared: " I'm going to fight every step of the way. "

He accused the House of retaliating against him for trying to help

the people of Illinois and said he's confident he'll be " properly

exonerated " at a Senate trial.

" The causes of the impeachment are because I've done things to fight

for families, " said Blagojevich, who was joined by some beneficiaries

of his health programs during a news conference in Chicago.

He ended the news conference by quoting a poem from " Ulysses " by Lord

Alfred Tennyson, ending with: " To strive, to seek, to find, and not

to yield. "

Legislators spent the morning discussing the merits of the case

against Blagojevich, the two-term Democrat who has been embroiled in

a sprawling legal and political drama since his arrest on Dec. 9 on

federal corruption charges, including accusations that he schemed to

sell the United States Senate seat formerly held by President-elect

Barack Obama. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, defying those

who have called for his resignation by appointing Roland Burris to

fill the Senate seat.

U.S. Senate Democratic leaders had blocked Burris from taking his

seat this week because the Illinois secretary of state had not signed

his letter of appointment from the governor.

But yesterday, after the impeachment vote, the Illinois Supreme Court

ruled the signature was unnecessary, seeming to clear his unlikely

path to the Senate.

The last governor to be impeached was Evan Mecham of Arizona, who was

removed from office in 1988 after serving 15 months.