Mon, December 15, 2008
WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- Illinois state lawmakers are seeking to impeach governor Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested on Tuesday on corruption charges, CNN reported on Friday.
John Fritchey and three other Democratic members of the Illinois state House of Representatives co-sent a letter to fellow lawmakers late Thursday to make the case for the impeachment, according to the report.
Federal agents arrested Governor Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday on charges that he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Blagojevich went back to work on Wednesday after being released on a 4,500-dollar bond.
Although Obama called on him to resign, the governor, a fellow Democrat, denied any wrongdoing and said he can still appoint a successor to Obama's vacated Senate seat.
The Illinois state senate could strip Blagojevich's power to appoint a successor to Obama's Senate seat, but it is unclear whether this is going to happen.
Fritchey and three other Illinois lawmakers said in their letter that impeaching Blagojevich is the best option for dealing with the open Senate seat.
Even if the governor is stripped of the power to appoint a successor to Obama's Senate seat, a special election for the seat could take four to five months and cost up to 50 million U.S. dollars, they said.
Meanwhile, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is trying to remove Blagojevich from office through the Illinois Supreme Court, but it's unclear how long that would take or what the outcome would be.
An impeachment, which will only take several weeks, will be a quicker and simpler solution, said Fritchey.
