In his speech today, Governor Blagojevich said, "You haven’t proved a crime and you can’t because it hasn’t happened. How can you throw a governor out of office with incomplete or insufficient evidence?" I’ve come to think of that as the Bush/Cheney defense. No crime, ergo innocent. But crime is not the gold standard for public officials in my opinion. I’m a Psychiatrist and a Psychoanalyst. There are a number of things that are not crimes that I would readily accept as reasons to remove me from practice if I did them. That’s true of any number of positions of responsibility. In the transcript that Fitzgerald made public, if you read only Blagojevich’s direct quotes, I think the case for conduct unbecoming a Governor is incontravertable. Maybe Fitz won’t prove a crime, and maybe he will. But he’s done us a great service by alerting us that there’s an official in high office who shouldn’t be there – period…
Update:
CHICAGO, Jan. 29 — The Illinois Senate voted unanimously Thursday to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) from office for abuse of power, ending a weeks-long impeachment ordeal that ranged between drama and farce.
One by one, Republicans and Democrats stood to call for the governor’s ouster, rejecting his last-minute pleas and criticizing him as a liar and a hypocrite before voting in the late afternoon.
With that vote, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D), a former running mate who hasn’t spoken with the increasingly isolated Blagojevich in 17 months, became Illinois’ 41st governor.
By a matching 59 to 0 vote, the Senate also voted to bar Blagojevich for life from holding Illinois political office.
QUESTION: "How can you throw a governor out of office with incomplete or insufficient evidence?"
ANSWER #1: Quickly
ANSWER #2: Unanimously
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.