Impeachment Begins and A Secretary of State Weighs In

Aaahhh....and the story begins to unfold! Roland Burris heads off to Washington, and a committee of 21 members of the Illinois House get together and unanimously decides to move forward with an Impeachment proceeding recommendation.

"The citizens of this state must have confidence that their governor will faithfully serve the people and put their interests before his own. It is with profound regret that the committee finds that our current governor has not done so."

Roland Burris, of course, was put directly in the center of this circus. He was asked many questions in regard to when and how he came into contact with the Governor and accepted the appointment to the vacant Senate Seat.

This morning it was announced that the Illinois Legislature voted 114-1 to begin Impeachment proceedings against Governor Rod Blagojevich. The one who voted no is Representative Milton Patterson (D) 32nd District. (He has stated his reasoning as "I voted the way I felt. I didn't think I needed to vote to Impeach (the Governor). I voted the way I felt." He sounded sincere to me. My guess is he is saddened by the entire mess and is sick to simply take part in all of this. Just my guess though. This should be interesting to see how his peers and the media now crucify him. Will they automatically assume he is a Blago lackey? Well, they need to keep the drama going don't they? But on the other hand, it is a fair question - Sir, why did you vote no? What was your reasoning? I will offer up the invite for him to answer this question in a statement here as well, even though he has already answered it.)

So, during this unfolding drama, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is appearing on a televised interview on Fox News Channel, Happening Now. In an interview with Jane Skinner he said some interesting things!

He stated that Roland Burris and he are "the best of friends."

Jane Skinner asked him if he felt as if he were being made to be the fall guy and he responded by stating:

"Yes I do."

He went on to state:

"It's a moral thing I'm working on right now," and "There's such a thing as honesty in government," and "You're looking at it."

He said that once ordered by the Courts to certify the appointment he would but that, "I did not want to affix my signature to a man out on bond," and "I believe he can be seated now without the Secretary of State," further saying his signature was only "ceremonial."

Then he went on to tell a story of how Congressman Rush, Senator Roland Burris and himself had gotten together when this mess with the Governor Blagojevich started and discussed it between themselves. He stated:

"Burris is a good friend of mine - all of us said he should resign and not appoint anyone," going on to say in reference to Burris accepting the appointment" I'm upset he did something we all said he [the Governor] should not do."

Jane Skinner asked if the Impeachment proceeding will have any reflection upon Burris' appointment and the IL Secretary of State Jesse White said:

"No it doesn't," but he turned back the topic back to him and stated, "I did not want to be any part of this charade put forth by the Governor of Illinois."

In reference to the Impeachment Jesse White had this to say:

"He [Blagojevich] could stand down and still receive his salary. We need him out and out immediately!"

This last statement really gets my attention and I hope it gets the attention of every listening reporter out there! If Blagojevich steps down he will still be able to collect his SALARY?? Are you kidding? With Impeachment proceedings in the works this guy could still step down and collect a paycheck? If you quit your job you can still get paid. You can play games with all of them and keep those political friends of yours jumping through hoop after hoop, and collect a check! Resign Blago! Heck you get paid while you await a long away trial date, if there will be one!! Jesse White just gave you the out on a national television interview!

Can the rest of the people get in on this deal? Can they get paid for quitting their jobs too? Sounds like a fair deal to me! Almost as fair as the bail out plan our buddies, I mean elected officials in Washington put together on our behalf that has been working out so good for us the people!

Like I said yesterday, the drama hasn't even begun to unfold in the State of Illinois. Don't think for one second Blago doesn't have hundreds of tricks and plans to twist it all up for his peers up his sleeve - this man is definitely not going down alone, and it surely won't be boring! Washington has somehow managed to allow Blagojevich to suck them into this nonsense too. He has more power than he thought, apparently. It will be interesting to watch this "powerful" Governor fall.

Humpty Dumpty and all that..