Published: January 09, 2009 11:44 am      

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois House impeaches governor

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Driven by anger and politics, the Illinois House voted overwhelmingly Friday to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich, an unprecedented action that sets the stage for a Senate trial on whether he should be thrown out of office for corruption and abuse of power.

Impeachment required just 60 votes. The final tally was 114-1.

Legislators accused the second-term governor of betraying the public trust by letting ego and ambition drive his decisions.

“It’s our duty to clean up the mess and stop the freak show that’s become Illinois government,” said Rep. Jack D. Franks, a Democrat.

Blagojevich was out jogging in his Chicago neighborhood when the vote came down. His office declined to comment, but said he would issue a statement at 2 p.m.

Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal charges that include allegations he schemed to profit from his power to name President-elect Barack Obama’s replacement in the Senate. The criminal complaint included an FBI agent’s sworn affidavit describing wiretaps that caught Blagojevich allegedly talking about what he could get for the seat, how to pressure people into making campaign contributions and more.

That arrest triggered impeachment hearings by a special House committee.

The committee unanimously recommended impeachment based on the criminal charges but other allegations as well — that Blagojevich expanded a health care program without proper authority, that he circumvented hiring laws to give jobs to political allies, that he spent millions of dollars on foreign flu vaccine that he knew wasn’t needed and couldn’t be brought into the country.

Blagojevich has denied the criminal charges. He criticized the House impeachment process as biased and said a Senate trial would produce a different result.

But he didn’t testify before the House impeachment committee and hasn’t offered an explanation for the federal charges.

“His silence in this great matter is deafening,” said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago.

During the House’s 90-minute debate on impeachment, no one spoke up to defend the governor. But Rep. Milton Patterson, D-Chicago, voted against impeaching Blagojevich. Rep. Elga Jefferies, D-Chicago, voted “present.”

Patterson said he wasn’t defending anyone, but that he read the impeachment committee’s report and wasn’t comfortable voting against the governor. “I have no firsthand knowledge of any of the evidence,” he said.

“I went by my own gut feeling, it’s as simple as that,” he said. “I read the report. If the government is going to indict him, let them go ahead and do that. That’s their job and I’m doing my job.”

The nearly unanimous vote reflects Blagojevich’s rocky relationship with lawmakers, genuine anger over his conduct and the political reality that supporting him now is likely to be unpopular with voters.

Republicans have been hammering the Democratic Party over the Blagojevich scandal.

He is the first governor impeached in Illinois’ long and sordid political history and joins a small club of impeached governors. The last governor removed from office after impeachment was Arizona’s Evan Mecham in 1988, ousted for attempting to thwart an investigation into a death threat allegedly made by an aide.

Blagojevich hasn’t been convicted of any crime, but House members said that doesn’t stop them from acting on the evidence they have, particularly since some of the impeachment charges don’t involve criminal matters.

The Illinois Constitution lays out no standard of proof to be met for impeachment, other than that senators must “do justice according to law.” The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court will preside over the proceedings.

The Illinois Senate is working to draft rules for a trial, which could begin as early as next week.