Blagojevich declares innocence, won't resign

By Michael Conlon and Karen Pierog

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich said on Friday he had done nothing wrong and would not resign in the wake of charges he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

"I am not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing," Blagojevich told reporters in his first comment on the charges since his arrest last week. "I intend to stay on the job. I will fight, I will fight, I will fight."

"I'm not going to quit a job the people hired me to do because of false accusations and a political lynch mob," the second-term Democratic governor added. "I'm dying to answer these charges. ... I intend to answer every allegation that comes my way ... in the appropriate forum -- a court of law," he said.

His feisty defense left in limbo the fate of the seat that Obama, also a Democrat, resigned after he was elected president last month.

The governor's lawyer said this week that Blagojevich would not exercise his power under state law to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy.

Democrats who control the state Legislature have refused to call a special election and instead started an impeachment proceeding that could take weeks, if not months, and might result in Blagojevich's removal from office.

The Senate seat will likely be vacant when the new U.S. Congress convenes in January. Democrats now hold 57 of the 100 Senate seats, with the fate of a Minnesota seat now held by a Republican undecided pending a recount.

Blagojevich, 52, has been under pressure from political figures, including Obama, to resign since his arrest on charges of scheming to trade political favors for personal gain. He has not been indicted.

Sam Adam Jr., one of the governor's lawyers, was asked later why the governor did not step aside temporarily, as the state constitution provides, and let the lieutenant governor, also a Democrat, make the Senate appointment.

"If it doesn't work, if it is too hard, if the people of Illinois suffer, he will step aside," Adam said, saying he was relaying what the governor told him.

Asked how anyone would know when that point comes, Adam said: "I'll tell you when you know it's gone too far and he needs to step aside. That's when nothing at all can be done on behalf of those that need it."

He said that could be months away, if then.

Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were charged on December 9 with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and solicitation of bribery.

(Reporting by Michael Conlon and Karen Pierog; Editing by Peter Cooney)