Governor Impeached by Illinois House

January 9, 2009

Springfield, IL.…In a historic move, the Illinois House of Representatives has voted 114-1 to impeach Governor Rod Blagojevich for abuse of power. This is the first time in state history a sitting Illinois Governor has been impeached. Rod Blagojevich will now go on trial before the Illinois Senate, where a two-thirds majority is needed to convict him of the charges and remove him from office.

State Representative David Reis (R-Ste. Marie) voted in favor of the impeachment article, citing the Governor’s refusal to resign or accept any personal responsibility amid charges he repeatedly abused his power, as well as the need to give the people of Illinois a fresh start by taking the much-needed first step towards restoring creditability and integrity to our state government.

“The totality of evidence presented to the impeachment committee was overwhelming and convincing,” said Reis. “The final report presented to the full House was astonishing and demonstrated a pattern of abuse of power that simply could no longer be ignored. I hope this is something we never see again.”

“With the office of Governor, comes certain powers,” stated Reis. “However, it doesn’t give you the power to sell U.S. Senate seat. It doesn’t give you the power to shake down contractors and health care providers for campaign contributions. It doesn’t give you the power to ignore the constitution or implement new programs without legislative authority. The Governor has simply demonstrated that he is unfit to remain in office.”

The impeachment resolution was derived following weeks of hearings and public testimony by a bipartisan special impeachment committee of the Illinois House.

Reis, an alternate member of the committee, stated that thousands of pages of documents and testimony were condensed into the sixty-one page report that was ultimately used in drafting the impeachment resolution. The Senate trial is tentatively set to begin later this month.

Anyone seeking more information on the impeachment process can contact Representative Reis’ office at (618) 392-0108, keith@davidreis.org or by visiting www.ilga.gov