Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is fond of waxing poetic of late. Here's some prose from one master of sonnets, John Donne: "Perchance he for whom this bell tolls may be so ill, as that he knows not it tolls for him; and perchance I may think myself so much better than I am, as that they who are about me, and see my state, may have caused it to toll for me, and I know not that." After swearing in a new state Senate on Wednesday, senators thanked him by giving him a date for his impeachment trial, Jan. 26.
Can I have another? Blago asked. Sure. You've got to Saturday to respond to your impeachment, the Senate leadership said. The Hound asks: Will the trial be televised? If so, Court TV will have a bigger audience than for the original OJ trial, the one in which he was acquitted.
Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald will preside over the governor's trial which could last in the vicinity of nine days. Guess Blago won't be sending Valentine's cards to members of the Senate.
Conviction requires a two-thirds majority, or 40 votes. Blago needs to persuade 20 senators, or offer them something, to vote in his favor to avoid conviction and removal from office. And, the Senate even has the power to bar Blago from ever again holding public office in Illinois.
The Hound is beginning to wonder what disbarred governors do after the party's over. Go on unemployment? Unless Democrats have a change of heart and don't want to take the man's livelihood from him --- he does have kids, after all. --- Blago's a goner. Will he still get his pension?
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