ELVIS
01-29-2009, 05:31 PM
Impassioned Blagojevich Finally Pleads Case at Trial
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/29/us/29blago3-600.jpg
SPRINGFIELD, Ill (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/30illinois.html?hp) — For a trial that has at times seemed sleepy in the absence of its star defendant, a dramatic turn came Thursday morning as Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich arrived here in the capitol and delivered an impassioned closing argument in his impeachment trial before the Illinois State Senate. The city was captivated — as were people all across the state — as Mr. Blagojevich pleaded his innocence in blunt, unsparing terms.
"You haven’t proved a crime and you can’t because it hasn’t happened," he told the legislators. "How can you throw a governor out of office with incomplete or insufficient evidence?"
After Mr. Blagojevich’s statement, and a prosecution rebuttal, the lawmakers began their deliberations on the governor’s fate, with each senator having the opportunity to speak.
In his remarks, Mr. Blagojevich asked the senators to put themselves in his shoes, and cast himself as a hard-working pragmatist who did whatever it took to help the people of his state — even when that sometimes meant skirting legislators and their rules. He flatly denied any criminal wrongdoing, excoriating the process that led him to the low point of essentially begging to keep his job. And he picked apart the articles of impeachment against him one by one, straining at times to present his point of view in sympathetic terms.
"I’m appealing to your sense of fairness," he said, adding later, "I did a lot of things that were mostly right."
He ended his remarks with a general apology for the frenzy that has enveloped the state as a result of his case and told legislators, let’s “continue to do good things for the people.”
In an interview after his statement, Senator Christine Radogno, the Republican leader of the Senate, said she was not persuaded. “I’m immune to his speech giving," she said. "We’ve seen those tricks before.”
“He gives a good speech,” she added. “He’s a performer. He’s very good at that. Perhaps he can get a job in the arts."
After Mr. Blagojevich appeared, the lawmakers took a recess to allow Democrats and Republicans to meet in separate groups. When they returned, David Ellis, the House prosecutor, rebutted the governor’s statement, criticizing him for not speaking under oath or taking questions.
"He simply says there’s no evidence and walks off the stage," Mr. Ellis said.
"He says, ‘walk a mile in his shoes,’ " he continued. "Well, if I were innocent and I were in his shoes, I would have taken that witness stand and I would have testified and I would have told you why I was innocent. The governor didn’t do that."
When the rebuttal was over, the senators again split by party and went into private caucuses before beginning their deliberations.
Earlier this morning, spectators had packed the Senate gallery in anticipation of possibly seeing, for the first time in the state’s history, the removal from office of a sitting governor. A line of people stretched down the corridor, waiting to get in. The session opened with the prosecution’s closing argument. The governor’s statement had been expected to last an hour and a half, but took only about 45 minutes.
Mr. Blagojevich’s announcement on Wednesday that he wanted to address the Senate on Thursday came about an hour before the prosecution rested its case, and brought negative reactions from lawmakers. Many had previously lamented the governor’s absence from the proceedings and had repeatedly requested he testify.
“It’s somewhat cowardly that he won’t take questions,” said Senator Dan Cronin, a Republican, on Wednesday. “If he had something to say, he should have come down here like a man and faced the music.”
During a publicity tour this week, Mr. Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat who was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges, repeatedly professed his innocence, calling the impeachment trial unfair, and complaining bitterly that many of the statements attributed to him on recordings of his telephone conversations, made by federal agents, had been taken out of context.
Senators here denounced the publicity campaign. Earlier on Wednesday, the Senate president, John Cullerton, a Democrat, challenged Mr. Blagojevich to appear in Springfield. “If he wants to come down here, instead of hiding out in New York and having Larry King asking questions instead of the senators — I think he’s making a mistake.”
Impeachment proceedings against Mr. Blagojevich erupted in the days after the governor’s arrest by federal agents. Among other things, the case includes accusations that Mr. Blagojevich tried to sell the appointment of President Barack Obama’s former United States Senate seat to the highest bidder and threatened to withhold money from a local children’s hospital, unless its executives contributed money to him.
In Thursday’s session, senators will cast votes on two issues. The first will be whether to remove the governor from office. The second will be to determine whether Mr. Blagojevich should be barred from holding office in the future.
To remove the governor from office, the senate must vote by a two-thirds majority (or at least 40 of the 59 senators). If that happens, Pat Quinn, the state’s lieutenant governor, would immediately replace him. Mr. Blagojevich would then become the first governor in the state’s history, and the first governor nationally to be removed since 1988, when Arizona lawmakers removed Gov. Evan Mecham from office.
:elvis:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/01/29/us/29blago3-600.jpg
SPRINGFIELD, Ill (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/us/30illinois.html?hp) — For a trial that has at times seemed sleepy in the absence of its star defendant, a dramatic turn came Thursday morning as Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich arrived here in the capitol and delivered an impassioned closing argument in his impeachment trial before the Illinois State Senate. The city was captivated — as were people all across the state — as Mr. Blagojevich pleaded his innocence in blunt, unsparing terms.
"You haven’t proved a crime and you can’t because it hasn’t happened," he told the legislators. "How can you throw a governor out of office with incomplete or insufficient evidence?"
After Mr. Blagojevich’s statement, and a prosecution rebuttal, the lawmakers began their deliberations on the governor’s fate, with each senator having the opportunity to speak.
In his remarks, Mr. Blagojevich asked the senators to put themselves in his shoes, and cast himself as a hard-working pragmatist who did whatever it took to help the people of his state — even when that sometimes meant skirting legislators and their rules. He flatly denied any criminal wrongdoing, excoriating the process that led him to the low point of essentially begging to keep his job. And he picked apart the articles of impeachment against him one by one, straining at times to present his point of view in sympathetic terms.
"I’m appealing to your sense of fairness," he said, adding later, "I did a lot of things that were mostly right."
He ended his remarks with a general apology for the frenzy that has enveloped the state as a result of his case and told legislators, let’s “continue to do good things for the people.”
In an interview after his statement, Senator Christine Radogno, the Republican leader of the Senate, said she was not persuaded. “I’m immune to his speech giving," she said. "We’ve seen those tricks before.”
“He gives a good speech,” she added. “He’s a performer. He’s very good at that. Perhaps he can get a job in the arts."
After Mr. Blagojevich appeared, the lawmakers took a recess to allow Democrats and Republicans to meet in separate groups. When they returned, David Ellis, the House prosecutor, rebutted the governor’s statement, criticizing him for not speaking under oath or taking questions.
"He simply says there’s no evidence and walks off the stage," Mr. Ellis said.
"He says, ‘walk a mile in his shoes,’ " he continued. "Well, if I were innocent and I were in his shoes, I would have taken that witness stand and I would have testified and I would have told you why I was innocent. The governor didn’t do that."
When the rebuttal was over, the senators again split by party and went into private caucuses before beginning their deliberations.
Earlier this morning, spectators had packed the Senate gallery in anticipation of possibly seeing, for the first time in the state’s history, the removal from office of a sitting governor. A line of people stretched down the corridor, waiting to get in. The session opened with the prosecution’s closing argument. The governor’s statement had been expected to last an hour and a half, but took only about 45 minutes.
Mr. Blagojevich’s announcement on Wednesday that he wanted to address the Senate on Thursday came about an hour before the prosecution rested its case, and brought negative reactions from lawmakers. Many had previously lamented the governor’s absence from the proceedings and had repeatedly requested he testify.
“It’s somewhat cowardly that he won’t take questions,” said Senator Dan Cronin, a Republican, on Wednesday. “If he had something to say, he should have come down here like a man and faced the music.”
During a publicity tour this week, Mr. Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat who was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges, repeatedly professed his innocence, calling the impeachment trial unfair, and complaining bitterly that many of the statements attributed to him on recordings of his telephone conversations, made by federal agents, had been taken out of context.
Senators here denounced the publicity campaign. Earlier on Wednesday, the Senate president, John Cullerton, a Democrat, challenged Mr. Blagojevich to appear in Springfield. “If he wants to come down here, instead of hiding out in New York and having Larry King asking questions instead of the senators — I think he’s making a mistake.”
Impeachment proceedings against Mr. Blagojevich erupted in the days after the governor’s arrest by federal agents. Among other things, the case includes accusations that Mr. Blagojevich tried to sell the appointment of President Barack Obama’s former United States Senate seat to the highest bidder and threatened to withhold money from a local children’s hospital, unless its executives contributed money to him.
In Thursday’s session, senators will cast votes on two issues. The first will be whether to remove the governor from office. The second will be to determine whether Mr. Blagojevich should be barred from holding office in the future.
To remove the governor from office, the senate must vote by a two-thirds majority (or at least 40 of the 59 senators). If that happens, Pat Quinn, the state’s lieutenant governor, would immediately replace him. Mr. Blagojevich would then become the first governor in the state’s history, and the first governor nationally to be removed since 1988, when Arizona lawmakers removed Gov. Evan Mecham from office.
:elvis: