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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MJ who wrote (57986)	1/24/2009 11:32:04 AM
From: lorne	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224786

Blagojevich asks Senate to change trial rules about calling witnesses Recommend (4) Comments January 23, 2009 BY CHRIS FUSCO Staff Reporter suntimes.com Launching a media blitz, Gov. Blagojevich today hammered away at the rules governing his upcoming impeachment trial, saying the “fix is in in” and Illinoisans would be socked with massive tax increases should he be booted from office. “It is a trampling of the constitution,” Blagojevich said of the trial during an afternoon news conference. “Under these rules, I’m not even getting a fair trial. They’re just hanging me.” » Click to enlarge image Impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich responds to a question during a news conference in Chicago. (AP) Earlier in the day, Blagojevich theorized about why the Legislature wants him gone. “They want to get me out fast so they could put a huge income-tax increase on the people of Illinois,” the governor said in a 43-minute interview on WLS-AM 890’s Don Wade & Roma show. “It’s either going be a 66 percent income-tax increase or a 33 percent income-tax increase. And they want to raise the sales tax on gas. “They know I’m against those things, and I veto them. If I’m out of the way, they can quietly push this through.” The governor’s radio appearance kicked off what’s expected to be a media blitz that could include appearances on national news networks next week. Blagojevich has no plans to show up in Springfield on Monday for the start of his impeachment trial if the rules don’t change. The governor pointed to two rules he said were unconstitutional. One, he said, “does not allow me to challenge the charges. Period.” The other “does not allow me to call witnesses like [White House Chief of Staff] Rahm Emanuel and others who have said I’ve done nothing inappropriate.” Despite the governor’s legal opinion, it still was unclear whether the governor planned a lawsuit to attempt to stop the trial. “Our legal team discusses these sort of things. That’s still something that’s under discussion by them,” he said. ‘Theater of the absurd’ Senate leaders who helped craft rules said the governor is twisting the facts. The rules do prohibit both House impeachment prosecutors and the governor’s lawyers from subpoenaing people who “could compromise the U.S. Attorney’s criminal investigation of Rod R. Blagojevich.” But none of the rules prohibit Blagojevich from presenting his side of the story, said Sen. Matt Murphy (R-Palatine), one of the people who drafted them. Murphy called the governor’s afternoon news conference “theater of the absurd.” Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) told the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday that the governor could have asked that documents citing Emanuel and other witnesses who might factor into his criminal case be admitted into evidence as part of his defense. “He’s had an opportunity to request the admission of evidence,” Cullerton said. “With regard to Rahm Emanuel, even though he could not have called for Rahm to testify, he could have requested a transcript” of what Emanuel said be admitted. “No party has the unrestricted right to subpoena witnesses,” Cullerton said. “It’s not a criminal matter. It’s an impeachment proceeding.” ‘Mental state’s’ unchanged Nonetheless, Blagojevich during his news conference called on the editorial boards of Chicago’s two largest newspapers to come to his aid. That’s ironic given that the criminal charges he’s facing include allegations he wanted certain Chicago Tribune editorial board members fired for criticizing him in exchange for the state awarding Tribune Co. financial assistance on a sale of Wrigley Field. He encouraged the Sun-Times and Tribune editorial boards “to weigh in and encourage the state Senate to change those rules so I can have a chance to defend myself.” On WLS early this morning, Blagojevich touched on everything from his profanity-laced tirades that were secretly recorded by the FBI (“I apologize for some of the profanity, but had I known they were listening I wouldn’t have used those words,” he said.) to his mental state (“I feel my mental state’s where it’s always been. You can judge whether or not that’s a good place or a bad place.”) to whether he feels betrayed by his friends and other Democratic politicians (“This experience is an experience in the human condition in a highly pressurized environment with big stakes involved. ... There are several elements in an experience like this that’s painful and very unfortunate.”). He called his Dec. 9 arrest a “personal Pearl Harbor day.” The governor refused to discuss details of the criminal charges he’s facing and again declared he has no plans to resign. Besides Emanuel, Blagojevich said he wants to call President Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett as an impeachment witness. He also said he’d like to call U.S. Rep Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) and even U.S. senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Arizona), who he says had worked closely with him. ‘The fix is in’ Blagojevich this week missed a deadline to file a witness list in the case, which he said was a decision made by his lawyers who feel he cannot receive a fair trial. “I think the fix is in,” the governor said “They’ve even put in a date where the trial is going to end. How can you do that if you’re going to be fair? Blagojevich skewered several politicians during the WLS interview. • On Mayor Daley, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago): The governor said raising cash for his campaign fund “was important because I knew from the beginning ... that if I was going to be in a position to take them all on ... then I needed to be in a position politically where I could afford ... to say to Mayor Daley and Mike Madigan No, I’m not Todd Stroger. I’m not going to raise the sales tax because you guys have a bunch of precinct captains in county government. No, sorry, I'm not going to raise the income tax because the city of Chicago gets a portion of that and that would be unfair and burdening working people." ¥ÊMore on Stroger: “I’ll tell you why there’s a lot of business leaving Cook County. It’s because of Todd Stroger’s sales tax increase.” ‘Confident of vindication’ • On his potential successor, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn: “Pat Quinn and the Democrats in the General Assembly are going to take more money out of your pocket to deal with the budget deficit instead of taking the $3 billion in surplus that’s sitting in state government in about 700 different checking accounts each protected by a special interest. ... That’s the heart and soul of why they’re doing this rush to judgment and have this kangaroo court impeachment. ... Here comes the tax increase in May. I guarantee you that’s what’s coming.” • On his pick of Roland Burris to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy: “When the Legislature and the leadership in Springfield said they were going to call a special election when all that happened, I said I was for that. But then they realized the politics was such that the Democrats might lose the seat, so they flip-flopped their position. In the meantime, there were a lot of backchannels to me urging me, don’t make the Senate pick because I think there was a deal made by some other political figures about who they wanted once Pat Quinn became governor.” Toward the end of the radio interview, the governor discussed how President Teddy Roosevelt inspired him to take up boxing as a teen and likened his situation to something out of a 21st century Frank Capra movie. “When the full-story comes out,” he said earlier on, “I’m confident of vindication.”