Who was the one person who voted not to impeach Blagojevich?

Does the governor have the right to vote on his own impeachment proceedings in Illinois?

The one person to realize the nonsense of this whole thing…

I guess if I read the whole article…

‘Rep. Milton Patterson, also a Chicago Democrat, voted against impeachment. Patterson said later that he was not defending anyone, but that he read the impeachment committee’s report and wasn’t comfortable voting against the governor.’

I’m not even from Chicago but I have been involved in organizations who had Political Action Committees. When I was young and entering the business world it was explained to me that we contribute to PAC’s to gain access to politicians to get decisions, legislation and politicians friendly to our cause. Although I thought it was unfair and distasteful,I learned that it is just the way politics works. There would be no PAC’s if it didn’t. Pay to Play is dirty, and ugly, but it is the way it’s been done for years and the Illinois Governor is just the current scapegoat for some reason. He’s just playing by the rules as they have been for the last 200 years. I hope the rules change, but I don’t really see that happening to much, it will just get more subtle.

So, in your opinion Blagojevich shouldn’t be indicted for following a path that allegedly all legislators follow also?

I think it has just been blown up way big. I think there are probably other behind the scenes reasons he was investigated, probably with some one’s political motive in mind, and most importantly, I don’t have all the facts. I’ll leave it up to a jury to decide, but I am always suspicious when no one comes to a persons defense and the guy hasn’t been convicted of anything. I guess, deep in my heart, I want to believe in “innocent until proven guilty”
When did we kill the “presumption of innocence?”

the one vote was not a vote at all. it stood as 1 since the person in that seat, milt patterson, is ill and not able to attend. why that vote is counted as 1 when the member is not there, not sure.

He’s done nothing wrong. The fed, who have been investigating the man for two years now would have brought charges against him if they had found anything by now. They were just granted a 2 month expansion on the investigation.

If they had something, they would have used it by now…

Yeah, I agree with Judi. Something is up, this guy didn’t even have a trial and he was impeached all on assumptions. Someone had a bone to pick with him.

Impeachment means having charges brought. It’s how you start the trial process. A person can be impeached (accused) and found innocent. This is due process.

Expanding on @Jeruba‘s point…

Impeachment, for a public official, is similar in concept to indictment by a grand jury in criminal law.

Bill Clinton, for example, was also impeached but acquitted of the charges.

Exactly. And to vote for impeachment is simply to say “I’d like to see all the evidence presented in proper fashion before a judge and jury and have the case heard, with proper prosecution and defense by the books. Let’s settle this according to the law of the land.”

I would think that a person who was innocent would want to see an orderly trial take place. This is exactly what “innocent until proven guilty” means: to have an opportunity to hear the charges and the evidence, to have it duly and fairly examined and weighed under the terms provided by law, and to have a verdict of guilty or innocent brought forward. To declare guilt before that happens is abhorrent in our society; but there is absolutely nothing wrong with calling for a trial if there is considered to be enough evidence to make a case. Impeachment calls for a trial.

The problem is that they are trying to limit his authority before he has had a trial and in the process they are causing a diversion that we can’t afford to have in the Senate right now. Vet the guy and let him get to work. Lord knows there’s work for the Senator to do.

@Judi
You said,’’ I think there are probably other behind the scenes reasons he was investigated, probably with some one’s political motive in mind.”

Like I have been saying all along about the rulers of this country, the banks and corporations run everything. The day before Blagojevich was thrown in jail, he suspended all Illinois business with Bank of America.

Like Kennedy, Lincoln,Ron Paul, and now Blagojevich, if you fight the banks, you will be assassinated, politically or literally. Of course it will just be dismissed as “conspiracy theory,” but when does a pattern finally become an actual conspiracy?