CHICAGO (CBS) ― The man who appointed Roland Burris - Governor Rod Blagojevich - is scheduled to preside over the Illinois Senate this Wednesday. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports that it could get dicey for the governor.
The governor has jogged while being impeached, gone to the office when there was really nothing to do, and now, it appears, he's headed to Springfield to welcome new senators whose first order of business is to give him the boot.
Two years ago, Rod Blagojevich greeted guests at the governor's mansion, was sworn in for a second term and made a pledge.
"I try to do what is right," Blagojevich said. "I try to help people."
The reception was decidedly chilly two years ago. It'll be downright frigid this time.
"I would say that he would be lucky to just get silence as opposed to outright boos," said Illinois State Comptroller Dan Hynes.
It is traditional for senators to rise and welcome the governor. Probably not this time though.
Representative Susana Mendoza, a vocal member of the House which voted to impeach the governor on Friday, and will vote again this week told CBS 2, "I think he should just stay away." If it was the House, she said, "I would ask the speaker not to let him in."
Senate members will be sworn in just before taking up a resolution setting the rules for the governor's trial.
That resolution, being finalized today, sees the governor's trial set to begin January 26th, though motions will be heard sooner.
A professional prosecutor has been selected by the House leadership to present their case.
Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald will preside at the trial and ask all questions which the prosecutor and the governor's defense want put to witnesses.
The governor's attorneys say they have not yet made a decision on whether Gov. Blagojevich will be present for the trial. He will however, apparently be present, for the swearing-in of his jury.
"Everybody knows that the clock is winding down, he is going to be out of office sometime in February," Hynes said. "So I don't understand how you can go about this charade, knowing that."
There has been some talk about a requirement that the governor preside over the installation of senators or the new session couldn't begin. Senate sources maintain that is not the case - that the governor's function is merely ceremonial; that anyone could do it, and that the governor's coming because he can - for now.
01/13/2009 9:23AM
Judge Roy Bean
I hope they drag this creep out from the senate and tar and feather him. ....Law West of the Peco's
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