Chars Life and Times

On Friday, January 09, 2009, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich. This is a first for an Illinois governor. The vote was 114 to one in favor of the impeachment. The individual that posted the no vote was Chicago Democrat, Milt Patterson. Patterson said that he read the report and didn’t feel at ease to vote against Blagojevich since he had “no first-hand knowledge of any of the evidence.” It does seem strange that there was only one no vote and everyone else voted to impeach our Illinois governor. It sure would have been nice if it had been unanimous but we’ll take the vote as it was given. 

Blagojevich still assures us Illinois voters that he has done nothing wrong. He feels that he will be shown as innocent when the vote reaches the senate, which is the next step in the impeachment process. Blagojevich thinks that the House had it in for him and he said he wasn’t surprised at all at the vote. Of course, almost since the moment he was reelected into the governor’s office, he has been scrutinized on what he was doing. Before he was arrested in December, many legislators have been trying to get him impeached. I think they were just waiting to obtain enough evidence to convict him. 

The senate plans to meet around January 26th to have the impeachment trial. Hopefully Blago will be gone from the governor’s office after that. 

A very historic and momentous event happened on Wednesday, January 8, 2009, President-Elect Barack Obama met with our current President Bush along with the past presidents that are still living. The great men attending were President-Elect Barack Obama, President George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. The event was held at the White House and they shared lunch and stories together.

I think it is great for Obama to meet with the current and past presidents and share information. They are the only men that can tell Obama what it is really like to be president. I’m sure they also discussed raising children in the White House and what it was like for each to be president. Obama was given tips on handling the office of president and their opinions and ideas about the state of our current economy and current issues. 

All of them expressed their desires for President-Elect Obama to have a rewarding and successful presidency. Obama said that he hopes to be able to stay in touch with these gentlemen through his presidency. 

As most of us know, Roland Burris, the person our scorned Illinois governor appointed as senator for President-Elect Barack Obama’s seat, was turned away in Washington when he tried to get sworn in. The reason being was that our Secretary of State, Jesse White, refused to sign the proper paperwork required by law to allow Burris to be a senator. I truly believe that Roland Burris is a fine choice for senator and would have been proud to have seen him sworn in, if Blagojevich would not have been the person choosing him. 

Burris met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Majority Whip Dick Durbin Wednesday to see what could be done to allow him to become senator. Reid, after the meeting with Burris, said that the Illinois Supreme Court might be able to assist in helping Burris take the Illinois Senate seat. Reid said that he is awaiting the ruling from the Illinois high court to see if Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White actually has to sign the certificate of appointment for Burris. This ruling should come down within the next week. 

I realize that is a strange title, but I wanted to talk about today in my life and also Roland Burris and the senate seat. 

Roland Burris was the man that our Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed to President-Elect Barack Obama’s senate seat. Burris was turned away today when he appeared in Washington for the newly elected senate swearing in. All he could do was go back outside and visit with the vast amount of media waiting to talk to him. Since our secretary of state would not sign for him, technically his records were not in order for him to become our senator. Burris said that he will now confer with his attorneys to see what the next step is. So I guess we have to see what happens next with that.

With regards to my life, first of all I want to say that I did indeed order the electronic cigarette starter kit and also one for my husband. I don’t want to say where I ordered them from because I ended up going for a more reasonably priced E-cig and once I get it I will blog more about it and how it goes. 

My husband also found out last night that it might be awhile before he can go back to work. The last day he worked was the night before Christmas Eve. The plant where he works at was then going to be shut down for the holidays and they were told to come back to work on January 5. Hubby got a call the Thursday before from his employer and was told not to come back to work until January 12. Well of course that sucked since he would not be paid for that week. After hubby talked to a couple of friends he worked with, he found out that he might not get to go back to work even then. He also found out that some of his co-workers filed for unemployment, and he was told to do the same. He went down to the unemployment off this afternoon. So we will see what happens with that also. Darn recession!

Poor Rod Blagojevich doesn’t seem to have any friends left among the lawmakers who will vote to impeach him or not. The vote to start impeachment proceedings was unanimous. Blagojevich’s attorney, Ed Genson, even asked the committee if there was anyone going to stand up for Blagojevich and there was silence. Nobody wants to play with our Illinois governor. 

There was talk of impeaching Blagojevich way before he was arrested back in December. He was losing friends before it really became public all that Blagojevich was up to. There is a lack of trust in the office of governor, and he has brought it all upon himself. 

I think Governor Blagojevich thought he really found a friend when he named Roland Burris to take President-Elect Barack Obama’s seat in the senate. However, Burris has been very cautious and has not in any way defended the governor. Burris has also been asked to testify in front of the impeachment committee that hopes to wrap up the impeachment proceeding this week and give an opinion to the House, whether to impeach or not. They only need a simple majority vote in order to impeach Blagojevich. I see no problem with this since pretty much everyone feels that the governor should be impeached and out of office as soon as possible. It would then require a two-thirds majority vote in the state Senate. 

As everyone probably already knows, our illustrious Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, defied everyone and appointed Roland Burris to the open senate seat left by President-Elect Barack Obama. I feel that Burris is probably a very good and deserving person for this job, but Blagojevich had no right to do this. He’s been arrested on federal corruption charges and is still operating the governor’s office as if nothing is wrong. Blagojevich will not vacate the office of Illinois governor because he still says that he has done nothing wrong. 

The senate had previously asked Blagojevich to allow the job of the senate seat appointment to someone other than himself. By Blagojevich going ahead and appointing Burris, is like slapping the citizens of Illinois in the face. 

To make things even worse, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has filed a motion looking for a 90-day extension to return an indictment against the governor of Illinois. Normally, they only have 30 days to file an indictment; however, because a multitude of new witnesses have cropped up, they need more time. I wonder if that means that Governor Blagojevich will be spending even more time in office to make changes and appointments that he is not worthy of making.

According to Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will be convicted of his crimes, impeached and out of the governor’s office by February 12, 2008. Blagojevich has said that he is innocent and hasn’t done anything wrong. He has gone to his office every day since he was arrested on December 9, 2008 and has even signed in new legislation. Blagojevich has acted like nothing has happened and it is a normal and usual work day at his office.

If Blagojevich is removed from office, Lieutenant Governor Quinn would take over as Illinois governor. Quinn has said that he will call for a vote in order to fill President-Elect Barack Obama’s seat that is now vacant. He said he will not just appoint someone to take that seat like normally a governor would do in this type of situation.

It will take a two-thirds vote in order to impeach Governor Blagojevich. Lt. Governor Quinn states that there are more than two-thirds of the senators that are willing to impeach the Illinois governor. It is just a shame that it will take two months in order to remove Gov. Blagojevich from office. I feel he should be immediately removed and not allowed to pass legislation and carry on the Illinois Governor’s seat as if nothing has happened. 

Our Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich held a press conference on Friday, December 19, 2008 that was broadcast live over our local television stations. Up until then, he has relatively been silent to the public about his charges. In his three minute speech, he stressed that he will be absolved of all charges made against him, and that he has no plan of letting anyone run him out of office. “I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong,” Blagojevich said. 

Blagojevich has been itching to tell his side of the story even though his attorney really didn’t want him to. Ed Genson, the governor’s attorney, has questioned whether the court ordered wire tapping was legal and can be used in court against Blagojevich. 

Many Illinois lawmakers have requested that Blagojevich step down from the office of governor of Illinois, and he is refusing to do so. The lawmakers also would like to have Blagojevich impeached. The impeachment process could take quite a long time to enact. 

Most Illinois residents, including myself, feel that Governor Blagojevich should just resign and allow Illinois to heal from this terrible ordeal. Our government needs to move on and not spend so much money and time on this troubled governor. 

Our Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, is still governor of Illinois and the saga goes on. Governor Blagojevich is still attending to his duties of governor, as though nothing has happened. Maybe he thinks it will just go away. I don’t think so.

Blagojevich has hired a high powered attorney, Chicago attorney Ed Genson, to represent him and spent four hours with him on Sunday. He and his attorney still say that Blagojevich has done nothing wrong. 
In the meantime, Illinois lawmakers initiated an impeachment panel. They decided not to set a special election to vote on who should fill the vacant senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama. They felt that it would cost too much for Illinois to do that. Some wanted the Lieutenant Governor to take office so he could decide who would take the seat. The lawmakers didn’t meet for very long today which angered several of them. 

Obama is staying out of the whole ordeal by stating that he will just let the Illinois legislature argue whether a special election should be held. I’m sure he has more important things to do about the whole United States without having to worry about just Illinois right now. 

The impeachment panel will meet again tomorrow, December 17, 2008, to allow Blagojevich to attend if he so wishes. He has declined but will be sending his attorney to the meeting.

On Friday, December 12, 2008, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion with Illinois’s highest court to have the Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, be removed of the powers that he has as governor. Since the governor’s arrest, he has been in his office, as usual, acting as governor of our state as if nothing has happened. The filing states that the governor is incapable of performing his duties and making decisions as governor of the state of Illinois. The filing also calls for the lieutenant governor to assume Gov. Blagojevich’s powers as governor. 

In Illinois history, this is the first time that such an activity was done. The attorney general is putting forth a ruling that is meant to apply to cases where a governor cannot fulfill his duties because of health problems. 

As most Illinoisans feel, I feel that Gov. Blagojevich needs to immediately step down and allow the Lieutenant Governor to take over his office. With Blagojevich still in office and thinking he has done no wrong and capable of making changes as governor that he should have no right in doing. 

The other person that was arrested when Blagojevich was arrested, John Harris, his chief of staff, resigned from his office on Friday, December 12, 2008. I doubt it, but maybe Governor Rod Blagojevich will choose the best thing and resign himself.