Gov’s plea: Save me
We say: Save yourself
Gov. Blagojevich on Friday called upon the editorial board of the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers to come to his defense and ensure that he gets a fair impeachment trial this week.
But after studying the merits of the governor’s specific complaints, here’s our response: So far, so fair.
(AP)
The Illinois Senate’s impeachment trial rules provide the governor with a fair chance to make his case before the Senate and, more important, the people of Illinois.
It is important to emphasize that the Senate trial, which begins Monday, is not a criminal or civil trial, and so the same rules do not apply — a point the governor would like to muddle. Some of the impeachment trial rules do set a tougher standard for Blagojevich’s attorneys to meet, but not unreasonably tough.
If Blagojevich is found guilty by the Senate, he will not lose his freedom, as he could in a criminal trial, or a vast sum of money, as he could in a civil trial.
At worst, he will lose his job.
The Senate trial rules were not created out of political hot air. They are based on the rules of the impeachment trial of former President Clinton. While Americans to this day debate whether Clinton should have been impeached, there is little disagreement that the trial rules were reasonable.
On Friday, Blagojevich voiced two specific complaints, the first being that the trial rules deny him an opportunity to challenge the charges against him or the documents on which the charges are based.
This is not true.
The governor cannot block the introduction of evidence that he may object to, such as an unsigned letter or a newspaper article; but Rule 14 of the Senate’s trial proceedings lays out exactly how he can challenge the “sufficiency” of such evidence. This evidence — if his argument carried the day — then would be set aside by the Senate.
Unfortunately, the governor’s attorneys blew off Friday’s deadline for making “sufficiency” challenges.
The governor’s second specific complaint is that he cannot call witnesses in his defense.
Again, this is not true.
Under Rule 15 of the impeachment trial proceedings, the governor will, in fact, be able to call witnesses, although only in each case with the Senate’s approval. The same restriction — the Senate must approve — also holds true for prosecution witnesses.
This raises an obvious potential for abuse, but the trial will be open to the public, which we believe creates the best guarantee of even-handed treatment by the Senate.
Blagojevich is restricted in calling witnesses in just one area. He cannot call witnesses whose testimony could compromise the ongoing federal criminal investigation of him.
Blagojevich said Friday, for instance, that he would like to — but will not be allowed to —call as witnesses the president’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, presidential adviser Valerie Jarrett or U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. Those witnesses, he says, would testify that he did nothing improper regarding the vacant Senate seat he is accused of trying to sell.
This is actually true, but also irrelevant. Their testimony would not help Blagojevich in the least. None of them could testify about the conversations that federal investigators secretly recorded between Blagojevich and his aides. Those talks allegedly focused on what the governor wanted in return for the vacant Senate seat and form the core of the charge against him.
The governor, of course, should be allowed to enter into the trial record any public statements from Emanuel or others that, from the governor’s perspective, help his case.
The man we’d really like to hear on the witness stand at the the governor’s trial is the governor himself. What better way to defend himself? But Blagojevich has decided not to attend what he calls a “kangaroo court.”
Instead, the governor on Friday went on the radio and held a news conference to throw out a wild and unsubstantiated accusation: state lawmakers want to run him out of office so they can raise the state income tax.
This statement, so divorced from reality, does nothing to help him.
Blagojevich should be afforded every reasonable opportunity to make his case, but if he declines to participate and the verdict goes against him, he has no one to blame but himself.