Gov's lawyer: Tapes 'just talk, not action'
IMPEACHMENT PANEL | House leader says attorney 'throwing up fairy dust'
SPRINGFIELD -- As sentiment for impeaching Gov. Blagojevich appeared to harden, his lawyer condemned a House panel Monday for building a wobbly case against the governor based on his "unfortunate talk" on secret recordings that don't prove laws were broken.
(AP)
Defense attorney Ed Genson blasted the governor's legislative accusers for having no clear standards to boot him from office and for depriving him of the ability to present who might corroborate that Blagojevich was merely all talk and no action.
"We are...fighting shadows, and that's not right," Genson said.
But in a sign that the House impeachment panel appears to be moving increasingly against Blagojevich, the lawmaker heading up the historic inquiry ridiculed Genson's arguments.
"He was really throwing up whatever fairy dust he could in order to say to the members of the committee, 'There isn't anything here you could use as a ground for impeaching this governor,'" said House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago), who insisted she has not yet made up her mind on impeachment. "That's his job. I don't mind him saying it. It's just that I didn't find what he had to say particularly compelling."
The House panel had been on course to wrap up its work possibly this week but got news from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald midway through Monday's hearing that his office would seek federal court approval to provide some access to the profanity-laced undercover recordings that were the basis for Blagojevich's Dec. 9 arrest. Now, the committee won't reconvene until next week at the earliest, armed with a possible, silver bullet against the governor.
As that possibility loomed, Genson belittled what was purportedly said on the tapes. The governor's lawyer stressed that while Blagojevich may have mused about enriching himself by appointing a U.S. Senate successor to President-elect Obama or signing legislation benefiting the horse racing industry, the governor never wound up profiting.
"There is nothing in that tape that shows people were asked to give money or campaign contributions or anything. It's just talk. That's what it is: unfortunate talk, talk that shouldn't have been made perhaps, but not action," Genson said.
But Rep. Roger Eddy (R-Hutsonville) said the transcript of the recordings shows convincing evidence the governor had designs to get rich off filling the state's open Senate seat.
"You might call that chatter or jabber," Eddy told Genson. "But to someone who reads the actual words stated by the governor of the state of Illinois, it's not jabber. It's not chatter. It's far worse than that."
Another panel member, Rep. Gary Hannig (D-Litchfield), said he senses clear movement on the committee against Blagojevich.
"I think a lot of members have begun to make up their minds, and it appears to me they're beginning to move toward the side of impeachment," Hannig said.
At one point near the end of his presentation, Genson appeared to grow exasperated by the steady drumbeat from panel members not sold on his premise the governor had done nothing to warrant impeachment.
"Is anyone here going to stick up for the governor? We have these people, one after another. This is the impartial panel we all swore to?" Genson said.
Currie immediately shot back by seizing on Genson's earlier sound byte and challenging the governor to personally appear before the committee - something Genson said Blagojevich will not do.
"We would be happy for the governor to stand up for himself and come to this committee and explain what those 'shadows' were," Currie said.