Okay, everyone wants to pass a law taking Blagojevich’s power away:
(Crain’s) — The state’s top two legislative leaders Tuesday said they will move fast to seize control of the process of selecting a replacement for Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate, taking that power away from Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
In separate statements, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones said they will call a special legislative session next week to repeal the state law that now gives the governor the power to fill Mr. Obama’s seat. Both said they will press instead for a special election to fill the remaining two years of Mr. Obama’s term.
“I am prepared to convene the House next Monday to change state law to provide for a special election for the U.S. Senate replacement,” Mr. Madigan said. “I would urge U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin to take note of this action.”
If he remains in power, he can avoid signing it, make an appointment before vetoing it. He has to be removed first.
Agreed. The problem is NOT the process by which Senate vacancies are filled in Illinois (Adlai Stevenson, Alan Dixon), the problem is this governor. Impeach. Now. Other than Hoffman, I don’t see who could vote against removing the governor.
The special election legislation is like the recall effort, it sounds good but isn’t necessary. The General Assembly does not need a new law. It has the power to remove this embarrassment once and for all. No more delays, no more new ideas.
We can’t simply treat the symptoms, we need to attack the disease.
Archpundit – your last statement is incorrect. The 17th amendment to the US Constitution vests the state legislatures with the power of how to set special elections. Each state legislature has the option of allowing its governor to make appointments until a special election is held, as the legislature directs.
The Governor has no authority to veto such a measure, as the power is explicitly given to the legislature.
It’s not a regular law, where the Governor may veto an act of a state legislature. This is a power that is specifically allocated to the legislature – kind of like the right to appoint Presidential Electors. The Governor has no say in the matter beyond that which the legislature grants him.
That’s not a typical interpretation of what was meant in the 17th Amendment or other similar provisions. Smiley v. Holm holds that states may involve Governors in redistricting with the allowance of a veto–something Illinois also does.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=285&invol=355
Well, there’s always the off-chance that I’m full of crap.
Still, the provisions of the 17th amendment specifically delineate what the legislative branch must do and what the executive branch may do if the legislature allows for it. So maybe this one is different from the others? I dunno, I’m probably talking out of my rear end here.