Reid to Blagojevich: Get out of office already!
No he didn't say that directly, but that's the gist of the letter he sent Blagojevich. Why? Because Reid's afraid that if Blagojevich sticks around, the legislature will be forced to schedule a special election for the Obama Senate seat. That means he could lose one more seat taking the Democrats down to 58 seats. And given the scope of this scandal, he's right to worry:
The momentum for a special election to replace President-elect Barack Obama ran into a major hurdle late this afternoon in the form of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) who penned a letter today to scandal-tarred Gov. Rod Blagojevich making clear he would prefer the incumbent step aside and let Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn make the appointment.
“It is within the authority of the Illinois legislature to remove your power to make this appointment by providing for a special election,” wrote Reid in a letter obtained by The Fix. “But a decision by you to resign or to step aside under Article V of the Illinois Constitution would be the most expeditious way for a new Senator to be chosen and seated in a manner that would earn the confidence of the people of Illinois and all Americans.”
Reid adds that his preference for an appointment by Blagojevich’s successor rather than a special election is driven by his belief that it is “imperative” that a new senator from Illinois be seated as soon as possible. An appointment by Quinn, a Democrat, also avoids the possibility that Democrats could lose the seat in a shortened special election campaign.
The timeline being floated in Illinois political circles would be for party primaries to take place on Feb. 24 with a general election on April 7 — a schedule that would leave the Senate seat vacant for at least three months.
Harry Reid understands that with a truncated special election the Democrats could very well lose the seat. People in Illinois are angry about this scandal. Well, at least as close to angry as you can get because people who live in Illinois are aware that they have a corrupt government. I've still got a couple friends back in the Land of Lincoln that are upset about what Blagojevich did, but not for the reasons you'd expect. One is ticked that Blagojevich couldn't keep his dirty deeds off the front page of the paper, and the other is complaining that when this is all said and done, the cleanest politico in Chicago is likely to be the dog catcher.
We'd prefer the state legislature move faster on this because if they pressure Blagojevich to step down and let Pat Quinn make the choice, it's not different than Blagojevich making it because they hail from the same damn machine. That's not change. Granted Quinn probably wouldn't go the same route Blagojevich did, but there would be some quid pro quo paid to Quinn.
If the legislature can pull off stripping the governor of his powers, so much the better. Nothing would make us feel giddy than watching another seat slip from Reid's fingers. To be honest, nothing would make us happier than seeing Reid bounced from his position as Majority Leader due to his feckless behavior in that position, but that's a different post for another time. Right now we need Jones and Madigan -- the two legislative leaders -- to get the election pushed through both Houses of the state legislature.
Publius II
The momentum for a special election to replace President-elect Barack Obama ran into a major hurdle late this afternoon in the form of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) who penned a letter today to scandal-tarred Gov. Rod Blagojevich making clear he would prefer the incumbent step aside and let Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn make the appointment.
“It is within the authority of the Illinois legislature to remove your power to make this appointment by providing for a special election,” wrote Reid in a letter obtained by The Fix. “But a decision by you to resign or to step aside under Article V of the Illinois Constitution would be the most expeditious way for a new Senator to be chosen and seated in a manner that would earn the confidence of the people of Illinois and all Americans.”
Reid adds that his preference for an appointment by Blagojevich’s successor rather than a special election is driven by his belief that it is “imperative” that a new senator from Illinois be seated as soon as possible. An appointment by Quinn, a Democrat, also avoids the possibility that Democrats could lose the seat in a shortened special election campaign.
The timeline being floated in Illinois political circles would be for party primaries to take place on Feb. 24 with a general election on April 7 — a schedule that would leave the Senate seat vacant for at least three months.
Harry Reid understands that with a truncated special election the Democrats could very well lose the seat. People in Illinois are angry about this scandal. Well, at least as close to angry as you can get because people who live in Illinois are aware that they have a corrupt government. I've still got a couple friends back in the Land of Lincoln that are upset about what Blagojevich did, but not for the reasons you'd expect. One is ticked that Blagojevich couldn't keep his dirty deeds off the front page of the paper, and the other is complaining that when this is all said and done, the cleanest politico in Chicago is likely to be the dog catcher.
We'd prefer the state legislature move faster on this because if they pressure Blagojevich to step down and let Pat Quinn make the choice, it's not different than Blagojevich making it because they hail from the same damn machine. That's not change. Granted Quinn probably wouldn't go the same route Blagojevich did, but there would be some quid pro quo paid to Quinn.
If the legislature can pull off stripping the governor of his powers, so much the better. Nothing would make us feel giddy than watching another seat slip from Reid's fingers. To be honest, nothing would make us happier than seeing Reid bounced from his position as Majority Leader due to his feckless behavior in that position, but that's a different post for another time. Right now we need Jones and Madigan -- the two legislative leaders -- to get the election pushed through both Houses of the state legislature.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 7:13 AM
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