Michael Madigan: Do you want to impeach Blago?

An overlooked--except in Illinois--facet of the Rod Blagojevich scandal is the unexplained reluctance of House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) to state his position on the impeaching disgraced governor.

In June, Madigan's office issued a fourteen page memo about a possible impeachment of his fellow Chicago Democrat.

Yesterday his daughter, Attorney General Lisa Madigan, filed a notion to have Blago removed from office.

Yet Michael Madigan, who is also chairman of the state Democratic Party, is oddly coy regarding impeachment.

The Chicago Sun-Times has more:

"It's baffling," said House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego), who was among the first pushing impeachment after Blagojevich was arrested and charged Tuesday as part of a blockbuster federal corruption investigation.

Even more baffling is the fact that plenty of votes exist in the House to get the job done.

On Friday, Cross had a conference call with his 52-member GOP delegation and said "at least" 45 favored launching impeachment proceedings immediately.

The same day, Rep. John Fritchey (D-Chicago), who is preparing an impeachment resolution independent of Madigan's office, received commitments from 30 House Democrats to back impeachment.

Madigan's silence has been festering for a few days. The below Illinois Republican Party press release is from Thursday:

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Andy McKenna today called on House Speaker and Blagojevich Campaign Co-Chairman Mike Madigan to come forward and let voters know whether he supports the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich.

"Illinois government is in crisis," said McKenna. "Speaker Madigan owes it to the people of this state to let them know if he supports the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich”

In the wake of Rod Blagojevich’s arrest on federal corruption charges, numerous state leaders, led by Chairman McKenna, called for the General Assembly to move swiftly with impeachment proceedings against the Governor should he not resign.

However, Madigan indicated he was only prepared to discuss the suggestions from Republican Leader Tom Cross that impeachment proceedings begin.

"I do not understand why Speaker Madigan will not act decisively on this issue," said McKenna. "Voters are fed up and ready for change and the sooner we get Rod Blagojevich out of office, the sooner we can bring real change to Illinois."

According to published reports Speaker Madigan issued a memo earlier this year to members of his own caucus that there was already enough evidence to impeach Rod Blagojevich.

Blagojevich's first job in politics was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives--Blago served under Madigan. In 2002, at the Illinois State Fair, Madigan spoke of then-gubernatorial candidate Blagojevich's unnamed "indiscretions." Just so there would be no room for misinterpretation, Madigan repeated the statement.

Even before he was governor, I'm pretty sure Madigan knew Blago was a rat.

Know the whole nation knows.

Technorati tags: politics Illinois Democrats Chicago corruption legal Blagojevich impeachment