Blago Worried About Precedence

In an impassioned plea to spare his job as Governor, Rod Blagojevich rambled endlessly and at times aimlessly for forty-eight minutes today in front of the Illinois Senate during his closing statement at the trial that will decide his political future. An ominous silence fell over the senate members as the two-term governor concluded his statements and exited the senate chambers.

As the senate members sat somberly through the rambling annotations of Governor Blagojevich, he described a concern over future precedence. "If they can remove a governor elected twice by the people, and a legislative branch can do it without being required to prove any wrongdoing, and, conversely, not allowing the governor to prove he didn't do anything wrong, if they can do it to me, they can do it to you and any other citizen and they can do it to other governors in other states," Blagojevich said.

As a private citizen, I am equally concerned about precedence. I’m concerned that if our representatives do not send an unequivocal message that political corruption will not be tolerated – especially in a case that has such blatant and public evidence – and will not go without penalty, then we will never see an ending to malfeasance.

I empathize with the soon to be former governor, in that he was unable to call any witnesses during the impeachment trial. I believe that in every situation where allegations of misconduct are present, the reprobate should be able to put on a defense (no matter how ridiculous or out of touch that defense may be).

The senate vote could come at any time.