Blagojevich To Be Impeached

[crokett]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/...ent/index.html

I wonder who the one person was who voted not to impeach.

[shoottx]

The only state where the Governors make the license plates

[LCHIEN]

Careful, guys, isn't this thread threatening to tread on the NO POLITICS rule?

[430752]

First, he has too much hair to be successfully impeached. Hair counts. Look at Ditka.

Second, [deleted since it might go into politics, as noted in the immediate posting above, just suffice to say he is a better man for doing openly what others hide].

[shoottx]

Careful, guys, isn't this thread threatening to tread on the NO POLITICS rule?

The Governors in Jail are from both parties, no politics involved. I believe it is 3 out of the last 4 and 5 of the last 7.

[crokett]

Careful, guys, isn't this thread threatening to tread on the NO POLITICS rule?

I don't think so. I am reporting news that could be gotten elsewhere and I am doing it sans opinion. I don't even know (or care) what party affiliation he has. He used his office for illegal activities. Run the bum out. IMO it doesn't become political until I start saying things like 'of course he's guilty, he's a member of the _____ party. Now it -could- become political but I know the fine upstanding members of BT3Central would refrain from that.

[BobSch]

In Chicago this isn't politics, just business as usual.

[newood2]

The only thing he is guilty of is doing what politicians do.
Doing favors for money is intrinsic to politics(the lobbyist for example) even in American democracy, which by the way, is the best in the world.
The "honorable statesman" as oppose to the "politician" would never survive in this environment.
How often you hear the phrase "I thought he/she was an honest politician.
They all have something up their sleeves, but they're all we have to maintain our constitution, so we bite our tongue and ask God help us.
Howie

[Kristofor]

We all know "corrupt Illinois politician" is redundant. I think it's bigger news when one of their Gov's makes it to the end of his/her term without a scandal of some sort...

[jackellis]

I'm merely telling anecdotes that I hope don't break the rule.

15 years ago I was working on a project for a company that was building a power plant at the old Brooklyn Navy Yard. The VP who had been sent in to get the project finished told an interesting story about going to a (fund raising) breakfast with then mayor Rudy Giuliani. Apparently, simply talking to the guy required a campaign donation of over a thousand dollars.

More recently, my (then) partner in a business venture decided we needed to lobby the governor of California. Same deal - you want an audience, be prepared to make a sizable campaign donation.

Same shakedown even though one was the R brand and the other was the D brand.

[Opinion deleted]

[germdoc]

Well, I hate to make diagnoses without seeing the patient, but I think Blago has neurosyphilis. I quote from the Wiki article:

"General paresis, otherwise known as general paresis of the insane, is a severe manifestation of neurosyphilis. It is a chronic dementia which ultimately results in death in as little as 2-3 years. Patients generally have progressive personality changes, memory loss, and poor judgment. More rarely, they can have psychosis, depression, or mania. Imaging of the brain usually shows atrophy."

"Some famous historical personages, including Franz Schubert, Charles VIII of France, Hernando Cortez of Spain, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Ivan the Terrible, have been alleged to have had syphilis." Now I don't think Adolf had the syph, given what I have read, but as for the others...

He was quoting Tennyson the other day. Who quotes Tennyson, except English professors, EMO musicians and syphilitic politicians?

The only flaw in my theory is the hair. End-stage syphilitics often lose their hair. But, maybe it's a WIG??

I rest my case!

[BobSch]

All politicians are guilty until proven innocent.

[crokett]

Same shakedown even though one was the R brand and the other was the D brand.

[Opinion deleted]

Jack, there is a very fine line and I think the line is that the people in question donated money to a campaign, not to the person directly. I know there are rules for spending campaign money on personal items. Also, the donaters were not asking for (nor were promised) specific favors. They just wanted to talk to the donatee. Blagojevich a) was taking the money and putting it in his bank account and b) was promising a specific favor for giving him the money.

[Alex Franke]

He used his office for illegal activities. Run the bum out.

No, he's accused of using his office for illegal activities. So the state government wants to accuse (impeach) him, too -- that's fine also. And if they find he's not fit for office, then he shouldn't be in office. And if he is fit for office then he should stay in office. It sounds to me like the process is working like it should. But even though the evidence seems pretty dam-ning, he has still not been found guilty of anything yet. (At least I don't think he has.) [Pardon the annoying hyphenation. I had no idea that the non-hyphenated version what such an awful and naughty word. ]

Note -- I'm not defending him, either. I don't really care about him one way or another -- he's not my governor. I'm just saying that we should let this run its course. Same thing with Palin last year -- don't call her corrupt because she's accused of abusing her power. Wait for the system to come to a conclusion based on the law, and then decide what (if anything at all) should be done about it.

All politicians are guilty until proven innocent.

Oh right -- forgot about that one. Ignore everything I just said above

[crokett]

No, he's accused of using his office for illegal activities.

You are correct, he is accused. That doesn't mean that I can't form my own opinion based on the evidence available. That is what the state senate will be doing, they will just do it in a much more formal setting.