Blagojevich Says Senate Impeachment Trial Is Unfair (Update3)
By Andrew Harris
Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached two weeks ago by the state’s legislature, attacked the legal process under which he is to be tried starting next week in the state’s capitol in Springfield.
Blagojevich, 52, was charged last month by federal prosecutors with corruption, including the alleged attempt to sell the vacated U.S. Senate seat of President Barack Obama. He has denied any wrongdoing. At a press conference today, Blagojevich, a Democrat, called the impeachment process unfair.
“They’re just hanging me,” he said at the press conference in downtown Chicago.
He said his appearance at the James R. Thompson state office building was to call attention to rules of the state Senate impeachment trial set to start on Jan. 26, which he said denied him his constitutional right to a fair trial.
“This is not an act of defiance,” Blagojevich said. “Just the opposite, there are huge, big issues at stake.” He accused the legislature of denying him the ability to call witnesses to testify on his behalf, a premise later rejected by a state senator who helped draft the trial rules.
Blagojevich and his then-chief of staff, John Harris, 46, were charged in a sealed criminal complaint on Dec. 7 with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery. They were arrested two days later.
Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the men also had demanded that Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune newspaper and owner of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, fire editorial board members who were critical of the governor in exchange for the state’s financial assistance with Tribune’s planned sale of the Cubs’ stadium, Wrigley Field.
‘Valuable Thing’
A vacant U.S. Senate seat is a “valuable thing. You don’t just give it away for nothing,” prosecutors allege Blagojevich said in a wiretapped phone conversation on Nov. 3, the day before Obama won the U.S. presidential election.
Blagojevich and Harris, if convicted, face as long as 20 years in prison on the fraud charge and 10 years on the bribery count. Harris’s lawyer, James Sotos of Itasca, Illinois, said his client has had preliminary discussions with prosecutors. Harris hasn’t decided to testify against Blagojevich, Sotos said.
The state’s House of Representatives on Jan. 9 voted to impeach the governor and, upon a finding of cause, he could be removed from office by the Senate after a trial in that chamber presided over by Illinois Supreme Court Chief Judge Thomas Fitzgerald.
Editorials
Blagojevich today called upon the Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times newspapers to publish editorials asking the legislature to modify those rules, which were drafted by a bipartisan nine-member Senate committee.
The rules were modeled after those used in the impeachment trials of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and one-time Arizona Governor Evan Mecham, who was removed from office in 1988, according to a member of the Illinois Senate panel.
“I don’t see any reason why those rules need to be revised,” Senator Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Palatine, told reporters today after Blagojevich spoke.
The governor is free to call as witnesses whomever he wants, as long as their testimony doesn’t compromise Fitzgerald’s investigation, Murphy said.
Among the witnesses who the governor said he is “impatient” to call are former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat. He said they could help him rebut claims he abused his power as governor.
TV Appearance
While the Senate trial is slated to start Jan. 26 at noon in Springfield, ABC News today said the governor will appear live on its Good Morning America news program, which starts at 8 a.m. local time and then, with his wife Patti, on a talk show, The View at 11 a.m. local time.
Blagojevich is the state’s second consecutive governor to face criminal charges. Former Governor George Ryan was convicted in 2006 of accepting trips and gifts in exchange for political favors. He’s serving 6 1/2 years in federal prison.
Fitzgerald on Jan. 5 was granted a 90-day extension to obtain an indictment against Blagojevich. Prosecutors had faced a 30-day deadline from the governor’s Dec. 9 arrest to get an indictment.
The case is U.S. v. Blagojevich, 08cr1010, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).
To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in Chicago at aharris16@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: January 23, 2009 20:12 EST |
