Groups Press Blagojevich to Resign

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The Illinois House's vote to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich Friday was met with widespread cheers among more than 100 protestors at the James R. Thompson Center.

As CBS 2's Mai Martinez reports, the demonstrators are calling for the governor to resign immediately.

For hours, members of several community groups, including United Neighborhood Organization and Rod Must Resign, protested outside the Thompson Center.

"It's obvious that he's unable to govern, and even Richard Nixon did the honorable thing, and he resigned from office," Juan Rangel of UNO said. "We expect that the governor would do the same thing."

Whether the governor heard the cries of the protestors is not known, but many of them believe state lawmakers have. They say the Illinois House's vote to impeach the governor shows that lawmakers are listening.

"We're standing up and we're saying what we want, and it's actually making a change in a positive way," Chicago resident Katherine McDonald said.

While the protesters might have been happy with the developments in Springfield, not everyone was.

"I understand that some things were said over the phone, but I believe that a person is innocent until proven guilty," Chicagoan Felicia Morgan said.

But to the protesters it's not an issue of guilt or innocence. They say it's simply about the governor's ability to do his job right now.

"There's too much scandal, and there's too much commotion, and he's unable to fulfill his obligation," said Scott Cohen, founder of Rod Must Resign.

The groups say they will continue their demonstrations until Blagojevich resigns or is removed from office.

State government grinds to standstill

By Rick Pearson and Ray Long | Tribune reporters | January 4, 2009

The governor was arrested by the FBI and faces impeachment proceedings, his appointee to a U.S. Senate seat is in limbo and the state treasury is in shambles—a combination that has turned Illinois into a national punch line.

But who's laughing around here?

The state owes billions of dollars to day-care providers, hospitals and physicians treating the poor. Lawmakers have shelved ambitious agendas, such as fixing health care and reforming the state's method of financing public schools.

The tortuous saga of Gov. Rod Blagojevich has put Illinois government on hold.

"Absolutely, we're in a mess," state Rep. Frank Mautino (D-Spring Valley) said of the state of the state. "This is the reason that Barnum & Bailey has three rings. The Senate appointment is on one side, the federal prosecutors and the criminal charges are on the other, and those of us dealing with impeachment are in the center ring."

The focus of Illinois' political circus shifts to the legislature Sunday, with members of a special House panel considering Blagojevich's fate scheduled to begin drafting a report that could lead to a recommendation of articles of impeachment. The full House returns to Springfield on Wednesday for a possible vote on the panel's recommendation within days.

Top Illinois politicians say the acceleration toward impeachment symbolizes the realization that any attempts to move the state forward—such as dealing with a severe budget crisis and developing job-growing economic plans—cannot progress while Blagojevich is still in office.

"The recent events have taken an already dysfunctional state government and put it into a state of total paralysis," said state Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago), a frequent Blagojevich critic. "The facts are clear that even prior to his arrest, the trust level of the legislature in dealing with Gov. Blagojevich [was] at an unprecedented low. Now it's just unworkable."

A few months before Blagojevich's Dec. 9 arrest on allegations that he sought to use his office to enrich himself and his political fund, the governor's job approval rating was a dismal 13 percent. Now, despite proclaiming his innocence, Blagojevich's credibility is in tatters and his administration is unraveling from resignations. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has even revoked his access to classified security information. An already marginalized governor has become even more isolated.

"It will get worse if we continue to operate by inertia, and that's what we're doing right now," said Comptroller Dan Hynes. "We're moving forward with no direction, no agenda for change. We're just plodding along, and our revenues are collapsing."

The effects of a bloated state spending plan and the nation's economic downturn have been weighing upon the state's ability to pay its bills and social service providers for some time.

Blagojevich's calls for lawmakers to allow him to trim agency budgets went unheeded because they did not trust him. The same lawmakers once forced him to sign memorandums of understanding over the funding of pet projects because they felt they could not bank on his promises.

The spending plan for the budget year that ends in July was already carrying an ongoing $2.5 billion deficit and the sharp economic downturn could drive state revenues down an additional $3 billion, Hynes said."I don't know that we've hit rock bottom yet," Hynes said.

Pressure from providers of health-care services for the poor, their billings to the state backing up in an empty treasury, prompted the state to borrow $1.4 billion. But Blagojevich's questionable legal status and a recent bond-rating downgrade because of the state's poor fiscal health tacked $20 million onto the costs of the short-term borrowing that taxpayers will have to finance.

Rep. Art Turner (D-Chicago) said the state has become so tardy in paying bills that programs for treating drug abusers and providing senior citizens with housing and medical care are being jeopardized. Turner said one social program in his district alone is owed $1 million.

"It's not fair that, on a national level, we're talking about a federal bailout of banks, the auto industry and the whole nine yards and nothing is being done to address the short-term concerns of those employers who work for these social service agencies," Turner said.

"As a result, we've got Illinois citizens who don't know if they can pay their gas bill and who also may be losing their homes because they can't pay their mortgage in a timely fashion."

Along with the state's financial mess, Blagojevich is a factor in how Illinois may fare as a new Congress prepares a massive federal stimulus package sought by President-elect Barack Obama. The program would rely heavily on public works spending in the states to create jobs and stir the economy.

The governor's appointment of former Atty. Gen. Roland Burris to fill Obama's U.S. Senate vacancy, challenging the national Democratic leadership, may hold negative implications for Illinois despite a home-state president, a current senator in high-ranking Democratic leadership in Dick Durbin, an incoming transportation secretary in retiring GOP Rep. Ray LaHood of Peoria and a bevy of top White House advisers who hail from Chicago.

"Our governor is a national laughingstock, and basically he just thumbed his nose at Washington with his Senate pick," Hynes said.

In the meantime, lawmakers see little reason to engage Blagojevich as the governor's administration teeters on the edge of collapse. Chief of staff John Harris was arrested the same day as the governor and has resigned. Other top advisers also have left.

"Even the most innocent of political negotiations involves a comfort level and being able to have discussions," Fritchey said. "But when people are worried that anybody they speak to associated with the governor may be subject to a wiretap, even the most innocent of discussions become difficult to have.

"And without the ability to communicate, how can you get anything done?"

Blagojevich stripped of access to classified federal security information

BY FRANK MAIN Staff Reporter | Jnauary 2, 2009

Gov. Blagojevich's access to classified federal security information was revoked by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after he was charged last month with trying to sell a Senate seat to the highest bidder, officials confirmed Friday.

Every governor is given such a clearance by Homeland Security to receive briefings on sensitive security information from Homeland Security and other federal agencies such as the FBI, said Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for Homeland Security.

"Being the subject of a criminal complaint, no matter who you are, is a disqualification," she said.

State Police Director Larry Trent and Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Andrew Velasquez — as well as other top state officials — have access to such federal security intelligence and could relay it to the governor, said Patti Thompson, spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.

In the past, Blagojevich would get personal briefings on major situations such as the alleged 2006 plot to blow up Sears Tower and the alleged 2006 plot to blow up planes traveling from London to the United States, Thompson said.

“On the day-to-day things, his advisers are briefed,” she said. “I think things will operate without a hitch because the higher advisers have that clearance.”

But Jay E. Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association, said Blagojevich is “flying in the dark when it comes to security.”

“If there is an issue in Illinois with a national security element, he will not be the first to know about it in the state,” Stewart said. “He is not in the loop. Aside from Illinois being embarrassed yet again on a national level [with Blagojevich’s arrest], our state operations are hampered and this is another example of that.”

Last year, Homeland Security officials reportedly revoked New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s clearance after it was revealed that he was a client of a prostitution ring under investigation by the federal government. Spitzer resigned and the lieutenant governor, David Patterson, took over March 17. Patterson reportedly was then cleared for federal security briefings.

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