Progress Illinois

Today marks the beginning of the Illinois House's impeachment inquiry concerning Gov. Rod Blagojevich.  Last night on WTTW's Chicago Tonight, Speaker Michael Madigan explained what's on the committee's plate on day one:

MADIGAN: The committee will meet for the first time.  At the very beginning, they will establish procedures, they'll adopt the set of rules for the committee which will talk in terms of subpoena powers, enforcement of subpoena powers, the ability to get access to books and records.  [They will] attempt to set a timetable for various areas of inquiry.  So our plan is to work with the affidavit that was filed by the FBI in addition to other alleged abuses of authority by the governor over these last two to six years, instances where he has spent money without authority or he has ignored a piece of legislation and done something in the opposite direction.  All of that will be put into order and ... we'll make an attempt to work with the Republicans to come to some kind of agreement on how to proceed.

The committee reportedly just completed it's first day. We'll have updates later on what actually got accomplished.  In the meantime, you can watch Madigan's full WTTW appearance here.

Last night, the Illinois House unanimously passed a resolution launching their impeachment inquiry, while deferring the question of whether to strip Gov. Blagojevich of his power to appoint Barack Obama's U.S. Senate successor.  Pressed about the issue on MSNBC this morning, Speaker Michael Madigan cited the "divisions in our caucus" over the issue and the concerns about cost.  However, during a separate interview with Carol Marin on WTTW last night, he emphasized that the special election prospect is "still under consideration."  Watch the MSNBC appearance:

There are plenty of legitimate concerns about the proposed special election: the cost to taxpayers, the chance of a Republican taking the seat, and as Jeff Smith pointed out over at Prairie State Blue, the risks of an abbreviated timeline.  But while public officials such as Jan Schakowsky and Lisa Madigan have gone on the record in support of a special election, we've yet to see any prominent Democrat publicly state their opposition.  As yesterday's deferral showed, there are numerous Dems who want to see an appointment from Quinn -- they're just not ready to own that position in public.

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Just out from the Tribune:

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan today said impeachment proceedings will begin immediately against Gov. Rod Blagojevich with an inquiry into allegations that the governor used his office to try to sell the vacant U.S. Senate seat of Barack Obama. [...]

"It is my intention to appoint a special committee to begin immediately an investigation into the governor's conduct in office and to undertake the preparatory work that is a prerequisite to an impeachment proceeding in the Illinois House," Madigan said.

More specifics about the committee: Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie will chair it; Appellate Court Judge Alan Greiman will act as special counsel; the bipartisan membership will be made up of legislators with at least six terms under the belts; the committee plans to meet every day, with the exception of Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day.

UPDATE: Here's some video via NBC5:

On November 5, political observers will find out just how strong the blue hue in Chicago's collar counties actually is.

Barack Obama's popularity in the region is the Democrats' biggest asset. For example, in the 10th Congressional District, which includes huge chunks of Lake County, our poll shows Obama with a 21 point advantage. In the south suburban 11th, McCain trails by 11 percentage points. And according to a recent Chicago Tribune poll, Obama edges McCain 47-39 in the collar counties as well. As Rich Miller noted back in March, the national GOP will “likely abandon the state if Obama is at the top of the ticket, which could cost Republicans about a million dollars in national cash and could lead to some serious legislative blowouts in unexpected places.” Tack on Obama's Chicago ad-buy -- an attempt to pick off some Northwest Indiana voters in the unexpected battleground -- and there's little doubt about an Obama landslide in northern Illinois.

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Via Capitol Fax, comes some possibly encouraging news from the state fair:

House Speaker Michael Madigan drew applause at Wednesday morning’s Democratic county chairmen's brunch when he said "good progress" had been made among his members exploring the lease of the Illinois Lottery to fund a new statewide construction program.

Madigan has blocked Gov. Rod Blagojevich's proposed $25 billion public works program largely due to a lack of trust of the governor among House Democrats. But the powerful Madigan, who also chairs the state Democratic Party, said House Democrats have been meeting for the past two days to discuss a lottery lease—the basis for funding Blagojevich’s plan.

"Today, the prospects look very, very good," Madigan said to applause, largely from representatives of labor organizations who back the construction bill. Madigan said "good progress" has been made in reviewing the details of a lottery lease but also said work remains in developing an agreement.

The article goes on to quote Senate President Emil Jones saying, "The good news today is we’re going to move a capital bill forward."  

WTTW has posted video of last night's episode of Chicago Tonight, during which I discussed the 2010 gubernatorial prospects with the Tribune's Eric Zorn and Fran Eaton, editor of the Illinois Review.

You can watch the segment here.

And while we're on the subject, I'd like to better articulate why I think a gubernatorial bid by Attorney Lisa Madigan is seriously hampered if her father is still House Speaker.

During the show, I talked about the slightly unseemly optics of having members of the Madigan family leading both the statehouse and the Governor's mansion. Zorn responded by saying that he had the same concern when Lisa ran for attorney general and apparently the voters didn't care.

But there is a significant distinction between her being AG -- where she has little control over her father's agenda and vice-versa -- and her being governor, where she's a central part of the policy apparatus. If she were to run for governor while her father is still in the speaker's chair, I think there would be serious concerns from the progressive community about whether she would be a rubber stamp for her father's rather conservative brand of Democratic policymaking. Especially considering that it's his political machine that would have provided the foundation for her campaign.