Gov. Blagojevich: Unfitness Motion?

i say they should lock him in a room with a good sturdy beam and a length of rope, and not open the door until he does what's appropriate

and then continue to do the same with every politician on the planet

Hey Debra! I'm no expert on law but it seems to me the guy was just trying to make a few extra bucks by influence peddling and selling things he doesn't own. Haven't we all done that? If we indict this man then shouldn't we indict the entire United States of America? If we indict every corrupt politician, judge, police officer and even meter maids then there will be no one left to run the country and anarchy will prevail!

Damn, I should have been a lawyer. I almost believed myself!

The documents: Madigan's case for Blagojevich's removal

"Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan has called on the Illinois Supreme Court today to temporarily remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office and appoint Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn as acting governor, "so the business of the state of Illinois can go forward."

"Among the documentation provided by her office:

Motion for temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction


The brief


The supporting record

I agree. I don't see where the judicial branch has any jurisdiction over the executive branch, absent a criminal indictment, i.e. impeachment. Impeachment has to come first. But, that said, shouldn't the attorney general of a state know the law better than anybody? So is this just a nudge to the legislative branch to urge impeachment?

I was with you yesterday when you said the same thing about the missing little girls' mother. But this one? Nah.

I didn't read the links, Debra, but my understanding is that she wants the IL Supreme Court to deem him "disabled" not simply unfit. There apparently is justification for the ILSC to declare a governor disabled and therefore unable to lead resulting in his powers being set aside until such time as he is deemed "fit".

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081212/ap_on_re_us/illinois_governor

Agreed-- it's a reach.

What happened to innocent until proven guilty? Are we going to treat this guy worse than the people at Gitmo?

The Attorney General's Argument at Page 11 of the Brief:



The AG is misrepresenting the content of the Constitution. The Court was NOT constitutionally delegated the authority to determine the Governor's ability to serve. The LEGISLATURE was constitutionally authorized to MAKE A LAW and it is that law and its application that is reviewable by the Court. See Illinois Constitution Article V, Section 6, entitled "Gubernatorial Succession":

SECTION 6. GUBERNATORIAL SUCCESSION

(a) In the event of a vacancy, the order of succession
to the office of Governor or to the position of Acting
Governor shall be the Lieutenant Governor, the elected
Attorney General, the elected Secretary of State, and then as
provided by law.

(b) If the Governor is unable to serve because of death,
conviction on impeachment, failure to qualify, resignation or
other disability, the office of Governor shall be filled by
the officer next in line of succession for the remainder of
the term or until the disability is removed.

(c) Whenever the Governor determines that he may be
seriously impeded in the exercise of his powers, he shall so
notify the Secretary of State and the officer next in line of
succession. The latter shall thereafter become Acting
Governor with the duties and powers of Governor. When the
Governor is prepared to resume office, he shall do so by
notifying the Secretary of State and the Acting Governor.

(d) The General Assembly by law shall specify by whom
and by what procedures the ability of the Governor to serve
or to resume office may be questioned and determined. The
Supreme Court shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction
to review such a law and any such determination and, in the
absence of such a law, shall make the determination under
such rules as it may adopt.

* * *

The General Assembly (the LEGISLATIVE BRANCH) was constitutionally mandated to enact such law concerning a gubenatorial vacancy and the Legislature complied. See 10 ILCS 5/25:

Sec. 25??'2. Events on which an elective office becomes vacant. Every elective office shall become vacant on the happening of any of the following events before the expiration of the term of such office:

(1) The death of the incumbent.

(2) His or her resignation.

(3) His or her becoming a person under legal disability.

(4) His or her ceasing to be an inhabitant of the State; or if the office is local, his or her ceasing to be an inhabitant of the district, county, town, or precinct for which he or she was elected; provided, that the provisions of this paragraph shall not apply to township officers whose township boundaries are changed in accordance with Section 10??'20 of the Township Code, to a township officer after disconnection as set forth in Section 15??'17 of the Township Code, nor to township or multi??'township assessors elected under Sections 2??'5 through 2??'15 of the Property Tax Code.

(5) His or her conviction of an infamous crime, or of any offense involving a violation of official oath.

(6) His or her removal from office.

(7) His or her refusal or neglect to take his or her oath of office, or to give or renew his or her official bond, or to deposit or file such oath or bond within the time prescribed by law.

(8) The decision of a competent tribunal declaring his or her election void.

No elective office, except as herein otherwise provided, shall become vacant until the successor of the incumbent of such office has been appointed or elected, as the case may be, and qualified.

An unconditional resignation, effective at a future date, may not be withdrawn after it is received by the officer authorized to fill the vacancy. Such resignation shall create a vacancy in office for the purpose of determining the time period which would require an election. The resigning office holder may continue to hold such office until the date or event specified in such resignation, but no later than the date at which his or her successor is elected and qualified.

An admission of guilt of a criminal offense that would, upon conviction, disqualify the holder of an elective office from holding that office, in the form of a written agreement with State or federal prosecutors to plead guilty to a felony, bribery, perjury, or other infamous crime under State or federal law, shall constitute a resignation from that office, effective at the time the plea agreement is made.

For purposes of this Section, a conviction for an offense that disqualifies the holder of an elective office from holding that office shall occur on the date of the return of a guilty verdict or, in the case of a trial by the court, the entry of a finding of guilt.

This Section does not apply to any elected or appointed officers or officials of any municipality having a population under 500,000.

Sec. 25??'3. (a) Whenever it is alleged that a vacancy in any office exists, the officer, body, or county board who has authority to fill the vacancy by appointment, or to order an election to fill such vacancy, shall have power to determine whether or not the facts occasioning such vacancy exist.

* * *

BASED ON THE FORGOING, because the Lieutenant Governor is the person who has the authority to fill any vacancy by the governor by appointing himself as the constitutional and statutory successor, it is the Lieutenant Governor who has the power to determine whether or not the facts occasioning such a vacancy exist.

Additionally, the law only allows the Lieutenant Governor to determine whether the facts support a conclusion that the Governor is under a LEGAL disability. In her brief, the AG misrepresented the meaning of "disability." She wrote the following:



However, the Illinois courts have defined the term "legal disability" to mean the following:



http://www.romingerlegal.com/illinois/illinois_caselaw_2/1974643.htm

If the Lieutenant Governor determines that the facts are sufficient to conclude that the Governor is incompetent or suffered from a serious mental disorder which makes him entirely without understanding or capacity to make or communicate decisions or to manage the governorship, then the Lieutenant Governor may declare that the Office of the governor is statutorily "vacant" until such time as the legal disability is removed and the Lieutenant Governor may assume the duties as the acting governor. Under the constitutional provision cited by the AG, the Lieutenant Governor's application of the law and his determination can be reviewed by the Supreme Court.

Again, the AG is misrepresenting the law when she claims that the Illinois Supreme Court has constitutional authority to determine the governor's fitness to remain in office.

My guess is that she's making a statement to the legislature that she's going to parallel path their efforts to remove him -- just as Harry Reid has done.

Rod's gonna hear from three sides (IL AG, IL legislature, US Senate) that he better not name anyone to this seat (particularly himself) in the next few days.

Being accused of a crime and/or official misconduct is not a DISABILITY no matter how far the AG desires to stretch the meaning of the word. The AG is seeking to establish a dangerous precedent that would put every elected official in the state at great risk of being "temporarily" removed from office when an accusation is made and thereafter deprived of that office until the taint of the accusation has been removed. In other words: GUILTY until proven innocent. That isn't the way we do things in this country regardless of the unsavory target. We might think Blagojevich is slime, but he's entitled to due process of law.

The point being made by the AG, imo, is that the current IL Constitution does not have a mechanism for a recall. The idea of a Constitutional Convention was on the ballot this year, as required by statute every 10 years. Those who were opposed were opposed on the basis of cost. Those who were "for" were for explicitly for the purpose of modifying the IL Constitution to allow for a recall vote of the gov.

Rod doesn't have a whole lot of friends....

His approval rating is 8%

He needs to go.

In my opinion, Ms Madigan is willing to lose this argument. She's got one eye on the Senate seat and another eye on Rod, the people, the IL Legislature, Obama, etc. She's making a statement. I don't think it's a cross she wants to die on.

The inability to tell right from wrong, sociopathic behavior, might be defined as a 'disability'.

Ah... I see what she's doing (I think).

She's paralyzed the Comptroller's Office by petitioning to have him called disabled and therefore unfit to govern. The state can't pay it's bills until the Legislature boots his butt and Pat Quinn takes over. The Legislature will move quickly. Perhaps more quickly than it would have otherwise. Welcome to IL politics.

I agree that Madigan has no one to blame but herself for paralyzing the Comptroller's office. She made the allegedly required certification impossible by filing the lawsuit. Then she urged the Court to remove Blagojevich because the state allegedly can't pay its bills until she signs the certification. How is that Blagojevich's fault? Madigan placed that contrived argument in her motion.

Additionally, the governor isn't personally responsible for the borrowed funds. What difference does it make to the creditor whether Blagojevich retains his office? Regardless of who may be in office, the STATE approved the borrowing and must repay the short term loan.

I think JPB is right in suggesting that what the AG is doing is sending a message to the legislature. She probably doesn't expect to win her case in court. But at this point -- in her presumed view, not necessarily mine -- the more pressure put on, the better.

Right -- I think it was intentional. She's not casting blame so much as she's playing whatever cards she can play.

I think it's fairly clear to all here that the AG's case involves a serious stretch of a law designed to deal with physical or mental impairment, and not matters such as the one at hand. While her action certainly does add significantly to the political pressure on the governor to resign or relinquish his powers, it also imposes adverse side effects on others (the state's creditors & suppliers) who in general have no role in the governor's various schemes & crimes.

All of this is justified by supposed moral outrage over the corruption of a governor who stands out in the political milieu from which he arose only by the blunt and direct manner in which he plays his game. One could perhaps ask the AG if she ever before had any suspicions or evidence of such venality and corruption on the part of the governor or other public officials and what, if anything, she did about it then (the same principal applies to our sainted President-elect).

In my book this is a fairly clear misuse of the law by an elected official who is probably at least morally complicit in the very issues that cause her present outrage by her past silence and inaction in the face of what everyone in the political scene knew was going on.

The whole thing is a sad, unseemly affair. The AG's actions very likely involve a little self-serving "piling on", designed to make herself look good. (Don't they all look like roaches scurrying for cover after the box under which they were feeding is lifted.) More importantly they involve a misuse of the law she is responsible to enforce. She is part of the problem here: not the solution.

I think his phone conversations pretty much tell the story on that tip, okie. The question isn't whether he's dirty but just how many layers of dirt are there.

MSNBC is reporting that the Ilinois Supreme Court rejected Madigan's filings.