Matthew on 12/12/2008 at 09:55
Quote Posted by Hier
As I understand it Blagojevich is still the Governor of Illinois. He is still free to pick anyone he chooses, including himself, for the Senate seat. There is almost no mechanism for removing him until he is convicted of a crime, which could take years.
I believe that the AG for Illinois can file a 'Rule 382' motion asking for him to be removed for inability or unwillingness to carry out the duties of his office. I've also heard that the Senate Democratic Caucus (or perhaps the full Senate?) could block any last-minute selection that he makes, but I'm not sure how as of yet.
Starrfall on 13/12/2008 at 00:25
I don't think he'll try to appoint anyone just because if he does, they'll immediately be tainted by all of this. So he can't appoint anyone he likes. And if he tries to appoint someone he doesn't like, they'll just decline anyways for the same reason. (And obviously if he picks himself he'll have some problems filling the role from a courtroom.)
Quote Posted by BEAR
He's such a colossal motherfucker it amazes me he made it this far, how was this not spotted sooner? At what point did he seem like a good candidate? Did he do anything good at any point?
His approval rating before this went down was apparently in the 12-13% range, so my guess is that he didn't do anything good. Most comments from Illinois-ites seem glad to see him go, but of course they never mention whether they voted for him.
Rumor has it that he planned to use the (potential) senate seat to launch a run for president in 2016. Yeah ok good luck with that one.