Illinois senate has reached a unanimous conviction to remove governor Rod Blagojevich.
The next vote will decide whether he’s barred permanently from running for office.
Post updated as news break.
Update 5:55PM Blago now disqualified from holding any future office in Illinois. Apparently he’ll be speaking to the press tonight.
6:15PM
WaPo: Illinois Senate Votes to Oust Gov. Rod Blagojevich
With that vote, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn (D), a former running mate who hasn’t spoken with the increasingly isolated Blagojevich in 17 months, became Illinois’ 41st governor.
By a matching 59 to 0 vote, the Senate also voted to bar Blagojevich for life from holding Illinois political office.
What happens if he is not convicted afterwards..?
Nothing! The power to impeach is in the Illinois Consitution, Article 2, Section 14. There are no caveats and there is no “…high crimes and misdemeanor” subsection to define what are impeachable offenses. But considering that one of the ex-governor’s donors, Ali Ata, has already plead guilty to paying $50K for a government job and will testify against Blagojevich and Tony Rezko the possibility of an innocent verdict is doubtful.