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Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich (L), Barack Obama (M) and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (R) (Reuters file photo) -
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President-elect Barack Obama called on the Democratic governor
of Illinois to resign after he was charged with trying to sell
Obama's US Senate seat and swap favours for money.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Governor Rod Blagojevich needed
to step down because under the current circumstances it is
difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the
people of Illinois.
The 50 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus called on
Blagojevich to step down and refrain from naming Obama's successor,
even threatening to refuse to seat any replacement chosen by the
Illinois governor.
"In light of your arrest yesterday on alleged federal corruption
charges related to that Senate seat, any appointment by you would
raise serious questions," the caucus wrote to Blagojevich.
There were mounting calls within Obama's home state to strip
Blagojevich of the power to make the appointment he allegedly tried
to barter, either by driving him from office through legal means or
letting voters fill the Senate seat with a special election.
Obama, who takes office on January 20, resigned from the Senate
after winning the November 4 presidential election.
The two-term governor was arrested at home before dawn on Tuesday
and then released without having to post bail.
His office said Bob Greenlee, one of three deputy governors in
appointed positions, had resigned. No reason was given.
Obama, who called the charges against Blagojevich sobering and sad,
has had a cool relationship with the Illinois governor - who has
been under investigation on other issues for years - although both
of their political careers sprouted in the often corrupt seedbed of
Chicago politics.
In Washington, Jesse Jackson Jr, a US congressman from Illinois who
waged a public campaign to win Obama's seat, said he had done
nothing wrong.
His lawyer identified Jackson as the unnamed Senate hopeful in a
government wiretap whose associate Blagojevich claimed was willing
to raise $1 million in exchange for a Senate seat.
Governor under siege
"I did not initiate or authorize anyone at any time to promise
anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf," said the son of
veteran civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson.
"I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an
offer, to plead my case or to propose a deal about a US Senate
seat, period," he added.
The Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times newspapers ran nearly
full-page editorials demanding the immediate resignation of
Blagojevich.
He left his stately brick house in Chicago on Wednesday, his 52nd
birthday, under siege by news media but said nothing.
"It's outrageous," said Beth Pinter, who lives a block away and was
out walking her two dogs. "He should resign, but he won't because
he's a sociopath. ... I don't want him in my neighbourhood because
he's a crook."
The saga threatens to follow Obama to Washington at a time when
the president-elect is preparing for his White House move with
ambitious plans that include proposals to get the US economy
moving.
"Among the remarkable facts of the recent presidential election is
that Barack Obama emerged from this political culture virtually
untainted - and with Chicago's political mores all but unexamined
by the press," the Wall Street Journal said in an editorial on
Wednesday.
Democrats, with independent allies, will have at least 58 seats in
the 100-seat Senate when the new Congress convenes if Obama's
successor as Illinois senator is a Democrat.
That might not happen if the matter goes to a special election.
A Minnesota Senate seat is still undecided.
Since the state constitution gives the governor sole power to fill
Senate vacancies, there were legal questions over how to
proceed.
Impeachment in the legislature could be a lengthy process.
The state's attorney general was exploring whether the state
Supreme Court could oust Blagojevich, one report said.
Prosecutors said Blagojevich was caught on tape using an expletive
as he described the Senate seat as something so valuable you just
don't give it away for nothing.
The federal charges say Blagojevich tried to trade the Senate
appointment for personal gain and muscle the Chicago Tribune into
firing critical editorial writers by interfering in a deal
involving the sale of Wrigley Field, the baseball stadium owned by
the paper's parent company.
