Attend the tale of Patrick Quinn

His job was tough, but his talent thin

He sent his plan to the gentlemen

But his ideas were never then heard from again

He didn’t win the spot that he’s in

Our Patrick Quinn, The Bumbling Gov’nor in Spring….field

He went to work with honesty

And told the truth for all to see

But that doesn’t work in Illinois

Where everyone thought it was just a ploy by Patrick

By Patrick Quinn, The Stumbling Gov’nor in Spring….fieldRaise the taxes high, Patrick

Graduate the pie

Don’t be nervous, social service we supplyHis needs are few, but the mansion great

His “Betsy” case & a Super 8

No security guard or private plane

But a campaign staff and ads that explain

What he has done and why he’s been

This Patrick Quinn, The humbling Gov’nor in Spring….field

This brings back all the questions of what is politics and what is government and where are the lines.  That discussion has been lost w/ the total political and governmental incompetence of Blago.  But w/ Ryan there was a serious debate lost on where has the line shifted w/in the criminalization of politics and the redefinition of ethics.  Fawell was the downfall of Ryan and Ryan was the ghost of politics past and Patricks Fitzgerald/Collins were/are the ghosts of politics/government future.  Discuss….

As thinkers in Illinois debate ways to fill Obama’s seat, those calling for a special election have a big problem.  A current Illinois statute gives the Governor power to fill Senate vacancies. 10 ILCS 5/25‑8.  Passing a new state law to reverse the old one requires Governor Blagojevich to sign away his power.  And he doesn’t have to veto it, he can merely put it in a drawer and run out the clock on the Illinois General Assembly to kill the bill.

Amendment 17 of the US Constitution vests the determination of whether or not to empower the Governor with the appointment power solely with the state legislature. In 1943, the legislature gave the Governor power to make the appointment by passing the statute referenced above, 10 ILCS 5/25‑8.  I wonder if a joint resolution calling for a special election, revoking the Governors power in this specific case, would hold up.

While in almost all cases a joint legislative resolution would be trumped by a state law, this may be a special case because the 17th Amendment doesn’t give the governor a role in the determining whether or not the Governor gets to make the appointment, and to reverse the law the Governor plays a vital role: He has to sign the damn thing.

Because the authority at issue comes from the US Constitution, not state law, this may be a special case where a joint resolution could reverse a statute.

Finally, a few disclaimers:  (1)  I think there is a high probability this legal theory doesn’t stand up, greater than 50% chance this is nonsense; (2) I don’t think there is a chance this will happen because it would be foolish for Democrats to risk a special election. Good governance, sure, but smart politics, no way. And Madigan and Cullerton are both smart politicians; and (3) You may have seen this theory before, as I’ve posted it in the comments near the end of another thread, but I think its a novel enough thought/ situation that I wanted to raise it for discussion.

Impeachment hearings *** Monk’s cell phone tapped? ***

Question of the Day

The question of the day is based on a proposal by State Rep. Will Burns, who I got to know when I was working in Springfield.  Will is a creative and bright young rising star in the Democratic party.  And I always thought he was also a genuinely nice guy.

Rich Miller asks the following question:

The governor is supposed to appoint Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. But Rod Blagojevich is under a federal cloud of alleged corruption. And so the question remains on how this position will be filled.

Chicago Democrat Will Burns says he will put forth a bill in January that calls for the Illinois House and Senate to confirm the gubernatorial appointee.

BURNS: Balancing the fiscal problems the state is facing with the need for more disclosure and a better process, I thought that this hybrid proposal provides the public with more transparency.

Burns says a special election would be too costly. His proposal calls for two public hearings on the governor’s appointee. That person would then have to be approved by both chambers in Springfield. If passed, the new law would be limited to the Obama vacancy.

* The Question: Does this seem like a reasonable alternative to you? Or, do you prefer something else, like, perhaps, a special election.

Click here for Will Burns’s column on his proposal.

I posted the following comment:

It’s not 100% clear that this complies with the strictures of the 17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but I admire Rep. Burns’s creative solution. The big variable is whether or not Blago would sign such a law or put it in his pocket.

This could also be done informally, the ILGA could give the gov a list of 3 acceptable names.

This is a Constitutional issue because the 17th Amendment says the legislature can give the Governor power to make the appointment:

“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”

The 17th Amendment doesn’t specifically empower the legislature to essentially give the Governor the power to nominate someone subject to their confirmation/ right of refusal.

There remain several potential informal solutions, I’ll mention two, and comment on the second.

1) Governor Blagojevich could agree to pick a name from 3-5 provided to him by party party leaders.

2) Durbin could call upon Blagojevich to make an appointment based on the recommendation of other party leaders/state “elder statesmen” and promise to make sure the pick is seated if Blagojevich goes with the panel’s choice.

This is good for Blagojevich because it gets the appointment out of the way which is one of the exigent circumstances making some want to act quickly to toss him out of office.  It is good for the Democrats generally because there is no special election.  It’s good for the people of Illinois because their Senator has more seniority.  It’s good for the Madigans, if you buy into the “slow-walk” theory, because it removes an exigency for bouncing Blagojevich. It’s good for Durbin because it shows leadership in a difficult time, and any “taint” of working with Blagojevich is overwhelmed by doing the business of the people and the fact that this proposal gives Blagojevich no real input on who the pick will be. And it’s good for U.S. Senate Democrats and Barack Obama because they are one vote closer to sixty from day one.

The only person it’s bad for is Pat Quinn.

Thanks to Rich Miller at Capitol Fax for providing the link.

If Blagojevich did set about modeling himself after Nixon, he’s most of the way there. Like his jowly political hero, Blago’s not going down without a fight. Tricky Dick didn’t resign until after the House Judiciary Committee had approved the articles of impeachment and Nixon was certain he would lose the House vote and the subsequent Senate trial.

(Thanks to Kiyoshi for sending this to me)

I was talking to my Dad last night when I realized that I’ve seen this defense employed before.  One of our all-time favorite shows is a British comedy called Father Ted.  Father Ted is about these three priests, none of whom should be priests, who were sent to this shitty little Island called Craggy Island, to minimize the damage they could do.  The three priests, Father Ted, Father Jack, and Father Dougal are too corrupt, too drunk, and too dumb, respectively, to serve in any normal parish.  And they have a mean ass Bishop, Bishop Brennan, who regularly threatens to send them to certain death in a jungle far away filled with hostile tribes.

In my favorite episode, Kicking Bishop Brennan up the Arse, (Click here to Watch the Episode) Father Ted has lost a bet with another Priest, and has to Kick Bishop Brennan up the arse.  Ted is terrified and convinced that if he does it, Bishop Brennan will kill him, but he knows that he has to honor the bet.  Finally, Father Dougal, the total dipshit, comes up with a plan for how Ted could kick Bishop Brennan up the arse.  Dougal tells Ted that he could get away with it, if he just kicked him up the arse, then acted like nothing happened, because the Bishop wouldn’t believe Ted would ever be brave enough to kick him in the arse and he would think he imagined it.

As you might anticipate, this didn’t work out so well for Father Ted.    And I don’t think the “Act Like Nothing Happened Defense” is going to work much better for Blagojevich.

Here’s coverage of Bambenek’s filing in the Belleville News Democrat.  You can download the pleadings for Bambenek’s case or AG Madigan’s case here at a special page on the IL Supreme Court’s website.

Illinois Review ran the following on Bambenek’s suit yesterday:

Suit to be filed Friday before Illinois Supreme Court to remove Governor

SPRINGFIELD – Frustrated by the lack of direct action on the part of state legislative leadership, two private Illinois citizens said Friday they will be filing a petition before the Illinois Supreme Court to temporarily remove Governor Rod Blagojevich from office.

“Attorney General Lisa Madigan has been bringing up the possibility of removing the governor from office based on Illinois Supreme Court’s Rule 382, which allows the court to move quicker than any other recourse,” petitioner John Bambenek of Champaign told Illinois Review today. “Illinois can’t wait for months for the Governor to step down, we have too many crucial issues before us to wait.”

“The standards for incapacity are very broad.  We’re saying he’s unable to fulfill his duty to appoint someone to fill the U.S. Senate seat, since Senate Majority leader Harry Reid refuses to accept his appointment,” Bambenek said.  “He’s also unable to function politically, because he’s been caught on tape compromising his office.  We’re also stating in the petition that Attorney General Madigan has a potential conflict of interest, as she has stated her own interest in running for governor in the future.”

Bambenek, co-foundeer of Illinois Citizen Coalition will be joined in the petition by Hinsdale resident Adam Andrzejewski, director of the year-old good government group “For the Good of Illinois.”

Also, a fun fact John mentions on his blog, both he and Blago have been on the Daily Show.

First I want to recommend the Capitol Fax Blog to all of our readers who are interested in monitoring the Blagojevich scandal, news on the IL Senate seat, and all of the fallout from this controversy.  When I worked in Illinois state politics, Rich Miller’s Capitol Fax was the single best resource for the news of the day.   It’s a great site to bookmark and check regularly if you’re interested in Illinois politics.

While most of these ideas are a little off the wall, and unlikely, this post was largely intended as a brainstorming session.  I’m hoping some readers might add thoughts of their own.

Special Election

Durbin, and several other Illinois politicians, have called for a special election to fill the vacancy.  In coming days we will probably see many who objected to a con-con for costs reasons, advocating a statewide special election.  In addition to being expensive (estimated at up to 50 million dollars) a special election is too slow.  It is in the best interest of the people of Illinois to appoint the new Senator before all the newly elected Senators are sworn in.  The U.S. Senate is a body where seniority matters a great deal.  I would rather our new Senator be more senior than all of the newly elected Democrats, rather than our new Senator be the most junior member of the U.S. Senate.

It could take a long time to pass legislation to hold a special election.  As the aforementioned Rich Miller notes in his column:

The first problem which springs to mind is that Blagojevich, who was arrested Tuesday for allegedly trying to auction Obama’s vacant seat to the highest bidder, would have to sign the [special election] bill into law.

Our jailbird governor could sit on the bill for 60 days before he does anything. And he might just veto it, which would only prolong the process.

On his Blog Miller adds, “Plus, if he waits to veto the bill after the General Assembly adjourns sine die on January 14th, the bill dies.”

This does require changing state law, specifically, the ILGA would have to amend 10 ILCS 5/25‑8:

Sec. 25‑8. When a vacancy shall occur in the office of United States Senator from this state, the Governor shall make temporary appointment to fill such vacancy until the next election of representatives in Congress, at which time such vacancy shall be filled by election, and the senator so elected shall take office as soon thereafter as he shall receive his certificate of election.  (Source: Laws 1943, vol. 2, p. 1.)

From a partisan standpoint, this is really dumb.  It risks losing the seat to a Republican, perhaps someone like Mark Kirk.  Hell, Jim Edgar today is talking about how he regrets not running for Governor in 2006.  I’m not sure there are many Democrats who could beat Edgar in a statewide race for anything,  Kirk still has a sizable war chest, and there are several other Republicans that could enter the race with reasonable winning chances.  The Blago scandal will mobilize the GOP base, hurt dem turnout, and maybe help sway some independents with Blago=Whoever ads.  (It would also be easy for any Republican to raise money in this climate from interest groups who want to make sure the GOP hold back cloture votes on issues like the EFCA.)

The counter argument is that any appointment by Blagojevich will be tainted and lose in two years because Blagojevich appointing him/her.  Or a broader point, that with all of the corruption and bribery at issue here, the only path to legitimacy is a popular election.  I think both of these points of view are too narrow.

Alternatives to a special election:

(c)  Whenever the Governor determines that he may be seriously impeded in the exercise of his powers, he shall so notify the Secretary of State and the officer next in line of succession. The latter shall thereafter become Acting Governor with the duties and powers of Governor. When the Governor is prepared to resume office, he shall do so by notifying the Secretary of State and the Acting Governor.
(d)  The General Assembly by law shall specify by whom and by what procedures the ability of the Governor to serve or to resume office may be questioned and determined. The Supreme Court shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction to review such a law and any such determination and, in the absence of such a law, shall make the determination under such rules as it may adopt.

When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of each State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, That the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

An unlikely scenario that could work, but wont happen:

As a student of economics, I think of policy as a way to “get the incentives right.” An argument could be made that parents not paying child support is a market failure, where the market for raising children would normally operate with parents meeting the finanical needs of their children.  In an attempt to correct this market failure, Illinois Human and Family Services and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources created a program to withhold hunting and fishing licenses to child support deliquent parents. I’m not going to go into whether or not hunting is a “right” or a ”privilege” to be “granted” by the state, but that is also an interesting question.  Illinois found a way to track down a certain subset of delinquent parents and gave them the choice to either pay their child support payments and get their license or not pay and not have the right to hunt (legally). The fact that the program contributed to the greatest collection of child support payments on record suggests that the policy is working.  Could there be other ways to find delinquent parents and get them to cough up the money to make their kids’ lives better off? Suspending driving privileges is another step, though if the Illinois driver never gets pulled over, he/she would only face “payment or suspension” every 4 years (renewal requirements for 21-80 year olds) rather than the yearly renewal of hunting and fishing permits.