Illinois official asks court to oust governor
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois' top legal officer went to the state supreme court on Friday to try to get scandal-plagued Gov. Rod Blagojevich temporarily removed from office.
The move by Attorney General Lisa Madigan came as Blagojevich showed no sign of resigning three days after his arrest on charges of swapping political favors for cash, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat held by Barack Obama before he was elected president last month.
Blagojevich's chief of staff, John Harris, who was charged with the same offenses as Blagojevich on Tuesday, resigned on Friday.
Madigan, a Democrat like the governor and Obama, told a news conference that a provision of the state law, although never before invoked, allows her to seek the governor's removal through the court.
Madigan said she had asked the court for a temporary restraining order declaring the governor disabled and taking away most of his substantive powers, turning them over to the Democratic lieutenant governor pending a ruling by the court on whether he is fit to serve.
Madigan said there was no way to know if the court would take the case or agree to issue an order.
Madigan said the state legislature should move toward impeaching Blagojevich but that would take too long. She said state government has become "paralyzed" with its ability to borrow money to pay bills on hold.
"I know these are extraordinary requests but these are extraordinary circumstances," Madigan said.
The charges against Blagojevich come after years of investigation detailed by court-approved wiretaps but the governor has not been indicted and remains governor with full powers. Through his lawyer, Blagojevich has denied doing anything wrong.
OBAMA SENATE SEAT UP IN AIR
The selection of someone to fill Obama's Senate seat remains in limbo. All 50 members of the U.S. Senate Democratic Caucus told Blagojevich in a letter on Wednesday to resign and under no circumstances make an appointment to fill the seat.
If the Illinois supreme court removes Blagojevich, Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn has said he would appoint a replacement for Obama in the Senate rather than hold a special election next year.
Blagojevich met with clergymen at his home on Friday but showed no sign of yielding to demands that he resign and later left the house without answering questions from reporters.
Obama and a host of other elected officials have told the 52-year-old governor to resign. The state legislature was to meet next week to consider impeachment or passing a law to fill the Senate vacancy by special election, instead of leaving it the sole prerogative of the governor as at present.
The Rev. Ira Acree of Greater St. John Bible Church in Chicago said he and two other Baptist pastors initiated the visit to Blagojevich on Friday and found him "very receptive and very gracious and very hospitable. He was in an upbeat mood and offered us coffee and juice.
"It was a pastoral call," Acree told Reuters, aimed also at offering comfort to the governor's wife and two children to "offer prayer and hope."
The federal charges allege 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 newspaper's parent company.
(Additional reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Peter Bohan and Bill Trott)
