Blago booted:

Illinois governor unanimously convicted, tossed from office.

Update: And it looks like the fine folks in Illinois caught a lucky break. Namely, their new governor sounds like a good guy: New Illinois governor made career as a grass-roots crusader. Yes, Illinois' new governor apparently has built his career "on grass-roots organizing to cut government and protect the little guy." And he's a former tax attorney. What's not to love?

Comments

[JDM]

Has he been indicted yet?

[Lisa]

I kept waiting for someone to come with the hook during his presser. Painful!

[bowtiejack]

Word is the indictment is due in April.

[gmb]

JDM: I don't know. Thing is, he's obviously off and the new governor sounds like an honest to goodness decent guy, so it's a good thing. That said, ironic that he was arrested for, among other things, trying to sell Obama's seat, when the conventional wisdom is that Paterson gave the senate seat to Kirsten Gillibrand because the Clintons didn't want Princess Senator Caroline to get it and they promised to raise money for him. How is that different?
Lisa: I didn't see. No need. He's gone.
bowtiejack: Thanks for the update. Any word on why it is taking so long? GMB

[Spartacus]

They should have kept him on just to keep that hairdo of his in the spotlight.

[Sorhum Crow]

Oh gawd, another community organizer.....
Good luck Illinois.

[JDM]

Thanks, Jack. Reason I asked is another way to look at this is that a bunch of yahoo republicrats, dems and republicans got to bounce a governor they hate for various reasons but without even the benefit of the federal indictment. If it's anything like my home state, they did this without anything like a reasonable record. Thus, according to this line of thinking, Rove has managed to herd the Illinois legislature, with with a helluva lot of public support whipped up by the EmessEm, into a destabilizing result that shows the dems as a party of equivalent or worse corruption than the republicans at a time when Obama is trying to get traction - and, may I add, Obama doing it without all that much initial success. This, too, is a deep game - not unlike what Bin Laden said he was seeking to accomplish as against the US, when he spoke in his early tapes. I would much rather have seen Blago at least indicted and preferably convicted OR defeated in an election. This way, St. Fitz has bounced him on press releases, Obama sees a political rival removed, St. Fitz gets job security and ya know what? For all his bullshit now, I bet Blago goes down with a negotiated plea, which the EmEssEDm will still beat to death with a "corrupt dems" meme while we're still waiting for a working recovery package. And the new governor, whatever his merits, will be wearing that around his neck for along time - "successor to corrupt governor Blago" and so on. Apart from the politics of it, and keeping in mind that i despise Blago, I think this is the wrong way to use the legal system. The Bushco people have worked a horror this way - Siegalman was the first I'm aware of, then came goodbye spitzer (press releases again) . Here I'm convinced that the trial of the monster Fumo will end in acquittal, but the best charges the judges (both republicans, one appointed to succeed the other = it's a long trial) have let in are not in the indictment, which is thin as hammered shit and keys around allegations by Fumo's alienated son-in-law, who went over to the republicans and worked for years in a highly placed job as a lawyer in the Bushco DOD.

[gmb]

Spartacus: Oh, he'll still be in the spotlight. Don't worry about that.
Sorghum: This guy sounds like the real deal. We shall see.
JDM: I recall that people were expecting Blago to be indicted for years. That is, I think there is more shit out there that we don't know because we weren't really paying attention to him until now. That said, I'm pretty much at the point where I think they are all criminals--with a few, notable exceptions. Emphasis on few and notable. GMB