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Illinois Lt. Gov.
Pat Quinn (D) on Sunday predicted that the state legislature would remove Gov. Rod
Blagojevich (D) from office before Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday on February
12. The Illinois
state House can impeach Blagojevich with a simple majority, and it takes two-thirds
of the Senate to convict.
“There’s far more
[senators] than that ready to” remove Blagojevich, the lieutenant governor claimed
on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Quinn reiterated
that he thinks that the best thing for the state would be for the governor to
step down voluntarily. However, Blagojevich has remained publicly defiant,
promising to stay in office as he works to clear his name.
Quinn said he and
Blagojevich had not spoken since August of 2007, and that the governor rarely
accepts outside advice. Instead, the lieutenant governor said, Blagojevich
chooses to listen to a small number of “palace guards.”
“He’s isolated. He always has been. He doesn’t really ask other people for
advice,” Quinn said. “What he needs to know is he's disgraced himself, he’s
disgraced the people of Illinois and he needs to do the proper thing and
resign.”
Blagojevich was
arrested on Dec. 9 and prosecutors alleged he was trying to trade President-elect
Obama’s Senate seat for personal gain, either through campaign contributions or
future employment.
Quinn said he
hopes to be able to appoint an interim senator who would serve on a temporary
basis until the state can organize a new election.
“I hope we can
have a special election,” he said, estimating that it would not take place
before June.
Also appearing on
CBS, top Obama advisor David Axelrod dismissed notions that the presidential
transition team has anything to worry about if and when federal prosecutors
release transcripts of phone calls between incoming Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel
and Blagojevich and his aides.
According to a
report issued by Obama’s office this week, Emanuel had “one or two” conversations
with Blagojevich in the days after Obama won the election, though those
conversations focused more on the congressional seat Emanuel would vacate than
on Obama’s Senate seat.
“When [the
transcripts] are released, they will completely bear out our report this week,”
Axelrod said.
Still, he added, Obama
has no control over when those transcripts see the light of day.
“It’s within the
power and purview of the U.S. Attorney to release those transcripts,” Axelrod
said.
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