Illinois House Members Seek Impeachment of Blagojevich

Douglas Belkin reports on the Blagojevich case. Four Illinois Democratic State representatives sent a letter Thursday afternoon to fellow party members in the statehouse seeking to gauge their desire to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested Tuesday on corruption charges that include attempting to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Rep. John Fritchey , a co-author of the letter, said he expects near-unanimous support; the letter-writers have asked for responses by noon on Friday. The four make the case that impeachment is the best option for dealing with the open Senate seat. If Blagojevich isn’t impeached but is stripped of his power to appoint a successor to Obama, a special election could take four to five months and cost up to $50 million. And if Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan attempts to remove him from office through the Illinois Supreme Court, it’s unclear how long that would take or what the outcome would be, Fritchey said. He ... (link)