Marathon Pundit: Chicago Tribune: Change law, then recall Gov. Blagojevich

Monday, October 29, 2007

Chicago Tribune: Change law, then recall Gov. Blagojevich

My governor, Rod Blagojevich, has achieved the impossible. He's done an even worse job as governor as the soon-to-be imprisoned George Ryan.

All the warning signs were there in regards to the Chicago Democrat when he was running for governor the first time in 2002. "Blago" had never run anything larger than a small office, he got just one bill enacted into law in his five years as a congressman. Sleazy characters, such as Dominic Longo and John "Quarters" Boyle were associated with the Blagojevich campaign.

Blagojevich's sole distinction was his father-in-law, powerful Chicago alderman Richard Mell.

Five years later, state government is dysfunctional, and there is one person to blame: Governor Rod Blagojevich.

During his tenure as governor, Blagojevich has shown he has just one talent. Using people like since indicted fund-raiser Tony Rezko to raise money. Although she ran a lackluster campaign, Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka still had no chance to unseat a Democratic incumbent in blue Illinois last year--a good year for the Democratic Party.

But to paraphrase Al Gore and Bill Clinton, "It's time for him to go."

And the Chicago Tribune is leading the charge, and it laid out its case yesterday in an editorial. Free registration is required fo the link:

Should Rod Blagojevich remain as governor of Illinois?

He shows no inclination to resign from office. And while the state constitution does allow for his impeachment by the Illinois House and trial by the Senate, it's doubtful legislators could bring themselves to such drastic action. So the realistic question becomes this: Given the multiple ineptitudes of Rod Blagojevich -- his reckless financial stewardship, his dictatorial antics, his penchant for creating political enemies -- should citizens create a new way to terminate a chief executive who won't, or can't, do his job?

That is, should Illinois join the 18 states that give voters -- as opposed to lawmakers -- the ballot power to remove state officials from office?

The Blagojevich experience suggests that the answer is yes, Illinois should write a recall mechanism into its constitution. Having endured the Blagojevich era, we believe voters never should have to endure another one like it. They instead should have the power to recall an inept governor.