A Just Cause Read online

  During the predawn hours of December 9, 2008, an FBI team swarmed the home of Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich and took him away in handcuffs. The shocking arrest, based on allegations of corruption and extortion, launched a chain of political events never before seen in Illinois. In A Just Cause, Bernard H. Sieracki delivers a dynamic firsthand account of this eight-week political crisis, beginning with Blagojevich’s arrest, continuing through his impeachment and trial, and culminating in his conviction and removal from office. Drawing on his own eyewitness observations of the hearings and trial, the comments of interviewees, trial transcripts, and knowledge gained from decades of work with the Illinois legislature, Sieracki tells the compelling story of the first impeachment and removal from office of an Illinois governor, while providing a close look at the people involved.

  A Just Cause depicts Blagojevich as a master of political gamesmanship, a circus ringmaster driven by personal ambition and obsessed with private gain. Sieracki examines in depth the governor’s unethical behavior while in office, detailing a litany of partisan and personal hostilities that spanned years. He thoroughly covers the events leading to Blagojevich’s downfall and the reactions of the governor’s cohorts. The author discusses the numerous allegations against Blagojevich, including attempts to “sell” appointments, jobs, and contracts in exchange for financial contributions. Sieracki then exhaustively recounts Blagojevich’s senate trial and the governor’s removal from office.

  This engrossing volume is both a richly detailed case study of the American checks-and-balances system and an eyewitness account of unprecedented events. It will appeal to anyone interested in the stunning, true tale of a state upholding the maxim “The welfare of the people is the supreme law.”

  Bernard H. Sieracki teaches public administration at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and at the Stuart School of Business, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. Sieracki received his PhD from the University of Illinois, Chicago. Prior to teaching he was an Illinois lobbyist for nearly four decades.

  A JUST CAUSE

  The Impeachment and Removal of Governor Rod Blagojevich

  Bernard H. Sieracki

  Foreword by Jim Edgar

  Southern Illinois University Press

  Carbondale

  Copyright © 2016 by the Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University

  All rights reserved

  Printed in the United States of America

  19 18 17 16 4 3 2 1

  Jacket illustration: Governor Rod Blagojevich. Photo by Jay Barnard. Courtesy of the Illinois Senate Republican Caucus.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Sieracki, Bernard H.

  A just cause : the impeachment and removal of Governor Rod Blagojevich / Bernard H. Sieracki ; foreword by Jim Edgar.

  pages cm

  Includes bibliographical references and index.

  ISBN 978-0-8093-3463-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 0-8093-3463-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8093-3464-3 (e-book) — ISBN 0-8093-3464-X (e-book) 1. Blagojevich, Rod R., 1956– Trials, litigation, etc. 2. Illinois—Politics and government—1951– 3. Governors—Illinois—Biography. 4. Political corruption—Illinois. I. Title.

  F546.4.B55S55 2015

  977.3′044092—dc23

  [B]

  2015013989

  Printed on recycled paper.

  The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.

  To Mary Alice, whose support makes everything possible

  Contents

  Foreword

  Jim Edgar

  Prologue

  1. The Crisis Erupts

  2. Cause for Impeachment

  3. The House Investigation

  4. The Impeachment Resolution

  5. Senate Preparations

  6. The Trial

  7. The Last Day

  Epilogue

  Notes

  Index

  Gallery

  Foreword

  Jim Edgar

  Even in a state stained through the years by corruption at every level of government, this profound moment claimed a special place in the annals of wrongdoing. Three governors had been imprisoned soon after leaving office, two for misdeeds while serving as Illinois’ chief executive. But none had been impeached until the General Assembly, like a team of surgeons removing a cancer, urgently but methodically excised Rod Blagojevich, the state’s fortieth governor.

  The unanimous votes by the Illinois senate on January 29, 2009, to uphold abuse-of-power charges brought by the house and to bar Blagojevich from ever again holding elective office came less than eight weeks after Illinoisans were jolted by news bulletins that FBI agents had arrested, handcuffed, and booked their governor. There had been rumors of wrongdoing almost from the time he took his oath in January 2003. Various media and government watchdogs had uncovered suspicious activity by Blagojevich and his cronies even before he won reelection in 2006 by a comfortable margin. But the drama of his arrest in the predawn hours of December 9, 2008, both shocked and focused the Illinois political establishment, especially the leadership of the legislature.

  In a real sense, that most shameful day in Illinois political history led to some of the most heartening activity we had seen from the General Assembly in recent years. The arrest brought to a head the turbulent six years of Blagojevich’s erratic and arrogant stewardship. It became obvious that the legislature, criticized for avoiding the tough decisions necessary to right the state’s fiscal course, needed to act quickly to begin rebuilding public trust in state government as well as the state government itself. From a political standpoint, Democratic legislative leaders had the most at stake; Blagojevich shared their party label, and almost all of them had backed him for reelection. However, after years of partisan wrangling, leaders of both parties largely cooperated to ensure that the impeachment was handled responsibly, resolutely, and expeditiously, working through the Christmas holidays to get the job done. In doing so, they reaffirmed that public officials must exercise their power with restraint and integrity.

  What captured the most attention from the public and the majority of reporters was Blagojevich’s unethical and ultimately illegal maneuvering to benefit personally and politically from his power to appoint a US senator from Illinois to succeed the newly elected president Obama. However, lawmakers also appropriately held Blagojevich accountable for defying state and federal laws while issuing state contracts and spending hundreds of millions of tax dollars without General Assembly authorization.

  In this important book, Bernard H. Sieracki painstakingly documents the fashioning of the charges against Blagojevich and the strategy for pressing them. Readers of A Just Cause: The Impeachment and Removal of Governor Rod Blagojevich will benefit from the numerous interviews he conducted with those intimately involved in the process, including the legislative leaders and the chief prosecutor, David Ellis, who is now an appellate court judge. As a professor and lobbyist, Bernie brought academic rigor, as well as state house savvy and access, to this endeavor.

  In addition to his interviews, Bernie reviewed countless newspaper reports and public records. His solid research reassures us that his observations and analysis are fact based and worthy of consideration by the readers of today and historians of tomorrow.

  Governors in the fifty states have rarely been impeached. It happened—and only once—in Illinois. That makes this impressive effort by Bernie Sieracki especially meaningful.

  Prologue

  On Tuesday, December 9, 2008, a gray dawn arrived over Illinois, bringing an intermittent rain and a chill in the air
. It was one of those damp, early winter days when the struggle between fall and winter seems finally resolved, and people go on with a sense of acceptance. There was nothing special about the dawning of this day, but that would rapidly change. In the early morning hours an FBI arrest team arrived at the Chicago home of Governor Rod Blagojevich and took him quickly into custody. The arrest was conducted like a raid. The governor was not given advance warning or the courtesy of being able to turn himself in; rather, he was snatched in the night like a common criminal. Wearing a jogging suit and handcuffs, the stunned governor was photographed being led away by federal agents. Word of the governor’s arrest quickly spread throughout the state and began a political crisis that would grip Illinois for the next seven weeks and three days.

  With helicopters hovering overhead, broadcasting events on live television, news crews followed the caravan of police and federal vehicles transporting the governor through the streets of Chicago, first to a federal lockup facility on the city’s near west side and then downtown to federal court. People were mesmerized by the chaotic scene playing out before them. Veteran reporters who rushed to cover the story could not believe what was happening.

  The six years of the Blagojevich administration resulted in a steady stream of indictments and convictions of those close to the governor, exposed mismanagement and possible criminal activity within his administration, and fueled rumors of corruption and abuse by the governor. The Blagojevich administration was in constant conflict with the legislature, which frustrated the legislators and greatly dissatisfied the public. The governor’s poor relationship with the legislators began when he first took office in 2003, the first Democrat to take the oath of office of Illinois governor since Dan Walker in 1973. In 2003 the Democrats had won the majority in both the state house and senate, and many anticipated being able to control the policy agenda. Instead, it marked the beginning of a political civil war.

  The Blagojevich administration descended on Springfield with the promise of change from his predecessor, George Ryan. Ryan, who was under indictment, was tried in 2005 and found guilty of racketeering, conspiracy, and fraud. He was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. Under the Blagojevich administration, governance certainly did change, but not the way most anticipated. Blagojevich quickly sought to consolidate his power by controlling the hiring of staff and consultants and engineering decisions regarding state contracts in agencies under the executive branch. He consolidated facilities management, internal auditing, legal functions, and leasing decisions under the Department of Central Management Services (CMS), where his office could oversee who would be chosen to receive leases for state facilities and contracts.1

  Blagojevich delegated the power to appoint people to state jobs and positions on state boards to people outside of state government—his political confidants and fund-raisers. There are few secrets in Springfield, and the obtrusive methods and audacity of the governor’s intimates in raising campaign cash and kickbacks for themselves did not go unnoticed. Audits conducted by the state auditor general, released in 2005 and 2006, uncovered gross incompetence and possible pay-to-play activity. In late 2003, the first year of the Blagojevich administration, the FBI and the US attorney began investigating those around the new governor.2 The office of governor is an integral part of state government, and for practitioners of the political process, lobbyists, those with special interests, legislators, and legislative staff, government is a business. Those who engaged in the political machinations of Illinois government took note, but like the citizens of Pompeii, they chose to go on with their daily affairs, ignoring the ominous rumblings of Vesuvius.

  In retrospect, the six years of the Blagojevich administration defined a time of moral disengagement. Initially, some legislators naïvely facilitated Blagojevich’s administrative antics, but by 2007, the first year into his second term, the governor’s relationships with most members of the legislature had deteriorated significantly. His remarks concerning the legislators became increasingly hostile, referring to the legislators as “drunken sailors” and taunting the house Speaker, Michael Madigan.

  By the end of the 2007 session, the governor had failed to reach an agreement with the legislature concerning the state’s budget. That summer marked the nadir of the relationship between the governor and the legislature. The Illinois Constitution authorizes the governor to call special sessions without pre-specified conditions by issuing a proclamation and stating the purpose of the session.3 Throughout July and August 2007, Blagojevich issued proclamation after proclamation, repeatedly calling the legislature back into special sessions. Negotiations on budget matters between legislative leaders and the governor stalled, and consequently there were no policy proposals to debate and act on. The legislators could do nothing but travel to Springfield, commence the special session, and then adjourn. As soon as the legislature adjourned, the governor called another special session. It became a schoolyard game of one-upmanship, and the legislators were furious. They were away from their families, wasting their time, forced to cancel district events or vacation plans, and it was costing taxpayers thousands of dollars a day to have them in Springfield. Blagojevich enjoyed it. He stayed at his Chicago home, went jogging or to his campaign office, and rarely ventured to Springfield. During that frustrating summer, serious discussions took place among the legislators as they considered their options to solve the never-ending problems created by the governor. “We had to do something about this,” State Representative John Fritchey recalled.4

  Impeachment and a trial to remove Blagojevich were made problematic by the nebulous criteria for impeachment and removal contained in the 1970 Illinois Constitution: “the existence of cause for impeachment.”5 Definite criteria for impeachment and removal had not been a major concern of the delegates who drafted the Constitution. The Illinois legislature had not employed the provision for 137 years, and there had been little discussion. John Marshall Law School professors Ron Smith, a delegate to the 1970 Constitutional Convention, and Ann Lousin, who served as a staff lawyer to the convention, both recalled that impeachment was not addressed as a major subject.6 It also had not been an important topic for the delegates to the 1869–70 convention or the 1862 convention (which was never ratified) or during the deliberations of the 1847 convention.7

  It is important to put Illinois’ absence of an extended debate concerning impeachment into a historical context. The subject of impeachment was a central concern to the federal delegates who met in Philadelphia in 1787. They were men acting in their own time, who sought to reject England’s heritage of monarchy and to establish a republican system of government that ensured a separation of powers as well as a balance of powers. They were well aware of potential abuses by the executive, but they also were very concerned with the actions of factions and the passions of majorities.8

  The development of Illinois’ constitutions did not follow the national narrative. The state did not have the kind of agonizing debates over impeachment and removal of the chief executive that took place during the drafting of the federal constitution. Illinois’ constitutions were developed under different circumstances. The authors of its first constitution in 1818 were primarily concerned with Illinois becoming a state and drafting a constitution that would be approved by Congress. They spent little time struggling with republican ideals. Illinois became a Jacksonian state and was populated by men on the make. The communication revolution had begun, and the three subsequent constitutions drafted in the nineteenth century were undertaken in response to evolving economic, political, and technological events.9 The subject of impeachment became less and less a concern, and in 1970 impeachment and removal became a prerogative of the legislature.

  Despite the absence of definitions or standards, impeachment is a path that has been seldom traveled in Illinois; the legislature has shown great restraint in calling for impeachment. Before Blagojevich, the Illinois house held impeachment investigations only twice: in 1833, when Supreme Court justice Th
eophilus Smith was accused of selling public offices and other misconducts, and in 1997, when another Supreme Court justice, James D. Heiple, was investigated by the house for misconduct associated with traffic stops and disregarding police instructions on multiple occasions. Smith was impeached by the house and tried by the senate. His defense team included future Illinois governor Thomas Ford, future US senator and Supreme Court justice Sidney Breese, and future US senator Richard Young. The trial was held at downstate Vandalia in January, and several senate members failed to attend the trial. The majority of those present voted to convict on most of the charges, but they failed to reach the constitutional majority of two-thirds. Smith stayed on the bench until 1842.10 Heiple was not impeached and left office when his term expired, having agreed not to seek reelection.

  The arrest of Rod Blagojevich in 2008 and the criminal allegations that followed ignited a series of events that resulted in the most consequential action the state legislature has ever taken. For the first time in Illinois history, the legislature, exercising its constitutional authority, impeached, tried, and removed a governor from office. The story of the impeachment and removal of Rod Blagojevich is a story of the workings of the legislative process, but it is also the story of the people involved, the legislators and legislative staff and their decisions and experiences. Not one of these people awoke on the morning of December 9 with any idea that their actions in the coming weeks would earn a place of significance in Illinois history. They are now a part of that history.

  Chapter 1

  The Crisis Erupts

  For the Chicago media, the news of the arrest was like a fire bell in the night. Reporters rushed to find out what was happening, where the governor was, and where he was going. Was he being processed at a federal facility? When was he going to be taken to federal court? What did the arrest warrant allege? What was going on at the State of Illinois Building? The questions were endless. Most radio and television station newsrooms had heard of the arrest by monitoring the police radios. They scrambled resources and were soon broadcasting live from the field.