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Ill. House Approves Blagojevich Impeachment Inquiry

By Jeralyn, Section Corruption Cases
Posted on Tue Dec 16, 2008 at 08:11:00 AM EST
Tags: Rod Blagojevich (all tags)
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Update: The impeachment effort stalled Tuesday. And, as I speculated below, Patrick Fitzgerald isn't happy about being asked to turn over documents pertaining to his ongoing indictments and investigation.

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By a vote of 113 to 0, the Illinois House has approved an impeachment proceeding against indicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

But the House also held off on calls to strip the disgraced governor of his power to appoint Obama's successor, angering Republicans who accused Democrats of a power play aimed at protecting their dominance of state politics.

The House panel is expected to hold several weeks of hearings, scheduled to begin Tuesday, and has the power to issue subpoenas and compel witnesses to testify. The panel also will seek information from the U.S. attorney's office as well as information gained from other parts of the federal investigation, such as information arising from the conviction of top Blagojevich adviser and fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko.

I imagine U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald won't be happy about turning over information obtained during his investigation. [More...]

Today, he confirmed he asked President-Elect Barack Obama to refrain from releasing information about staff contacts with Blagojevich until the week of Dec. 22.

Meanwhile, Blagojevich shows no signs of caving in.

On Monday, he signed a dozen bills into law, including one involving the horse-racing and casino industries that federal prosecutors allege Blagojevich was using to squeeze campaign contributions in exchange for his signature.

As for how the impeachment proceedings will proceed:

If the newly formed panel recommends impeachment, the House will vote on its findings. If Blagojevich is impeached by the House, the matter would go to the Senate, which acts as jury. The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court would preside over the chamber.

This hardly inspires confidence in the Senate portion -- the rules will be written in the future:

Retiring Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and his successor, Sen. John Cullerton, were working on drawing up rules for conducting an impeachment trial.

Blagojevich has