Gov. Rod Blagojevich was thrown out of office Thursday without a single lawmaker rising in his defense, ending a nearly two-month crisis that erupted with his arrest on charges he tried to sell Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat.Blagojevich becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment.
After a four-day trial, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict him of abuse of power, automatically ousting the second-term Democrat. In a second, identical vote, lawmakers further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in the state again.
"He failed the test of character. He is beneath the dignity of the state of Illinois. He is no longer worthy to be our governor," said Sen. Matt Murphy, a Republican from suburban Chicago.
...Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, one of Blagojevich's critics, was promptly sworn in as governor.
I do love a dash of irony in my afternoon tea. This news from California made my day today. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Proposition 8 proponents' complaint that a California campaign-finance disclosure law has led to harassment of same-sex marriage opponents failed today to sway a federal judge, who refused to throw out the law or shield donors' names.
Woo hoo!
[Lawyers for "Protect Marriage"]argued that the law requiring disclosure of all donors of $100 or more interfered with the campaign's right to participate in the political process and should be struck down, modified to raise the dollar limits, or at least not applied to contributors to the measure outlawing same-sex marriage.
That's right honey, you just keep right on crying about how the only moral voter initiative is YOUR voter initiative. Then whine some more about how it's not FAIR that people are conducting First Amendment-protected expressions of free speech by boycotting your businesses and telling the world what you stand for.
But U.S. District Judge Morrison England, after a one-hour hearing in Sacramento, said California's $100 reporting requirement - adopted by the voters in 1974 - is a valid means of informing the public about the financing of ballot measure campaigns."If there ever needs to be sunshine on a particular issue, it's a ballot measure," England said, observing that initiatives are often sponsored by committees with misleading names.
Some of the reprisals reported by the Prop. 8 committee involve legal activities such as boycotts and picketing, England said.
The haters can cry me a river. They paid for it, they bought it, and now they get to own it, lock, stock, and campaign contribution public record. What’s that saying about “truth should withstand scrutiny”? Seems to me that if you’re afraid of a little scrutiny, you don’t have much truth to hold up.
What I find particularly ironic is that the California Political Reform Act of 1974 was a voter initiative to publicly disclose campaign donors. The “Sanctity of My Marriage” crowd’s argument is that voter initiative campaigns like theirs shouldn’t be overturned because it’s the “will of the people” and their donors shouldn’t be disclosed. So, they’re asking that a voter initiative be overturned to serve the purposes of another voter initiative?
Hey, no one ever said being a hateful religious nut was easy or had any consistency.
For anyone who wants to check out the Political Reform Act of 1974, it can be found here.
UPDATE: A longer written statement from Judge England will be available later. More details from the San Jose Mercury News:
State attorneys said the plaintiffs did not qualify for a narrow exception to campaign-donation disclosure laws that the U.S. Supreme Court carved out in 1982. That ruling was designed to protect tiny groups such as the Ohio Socialist Workers Party, which had a history of being harassed by both government officials and individuals, the state said.
"This exception does not apply to a large, well-financed organization representing the views of several mainstream organizations such as the plaintiffs, who had over 36,000 contributors, garnered nearly $30 million in campaign contributions and whose ballot measure was passed by a vote of over 52 percent of the voters," Scott Hallabrin, general counsel for the FPPC, said in a statement.
Damn skippy.
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The former head of New Life Church also made a PR stop on Oprah, accompanied by his wife, and that made for some interesting exchanges. Herndon Davis saw the episode and wrote an interesting commentary that's fairly sympathetic to Haggard -- it's worth a read. A snippet:
Like many closeted ministers, pastors, and bishops I expected Haggard to say that he was somehow healed from homosexuality and condemn his former life. I expected to see a man who somehow would still be rationalizing his life while still saying that homosexuality is a sin.For a good article on the doco, click over to Salon for Heather Havrilesky's piece, "Ted Haggard in exile."But surprisingly, I saw a man who admitted that he continues to have same-sex attractions but also refuses to exclusively identify as either heterosexual or homosexual, but instead as a heterosexual with issues. Although some would say that he's still straddling the fence with his sexuality, his interview with Oprah actually displayed a man who is in a state of evolution and self-discovery.According to Haggard, God loves him just the way he is although the former pastor still believes that living a heterosexual life is God's ideal. Oprah poked and prodded a bit aggressively throughout the interview but towards the end Haggard and the big 'O' were vibbing especially on the point that lying about himself was the deed, not being gay.
But Haggard's wife Gayle was the odd-man out in the hour long discussion. She and Oprah actually clashed over gay orientation versus gay identity. Mrs. Haggard was trying to make the point that even though a person may be gay he/she doesn't necessarily have to assume the gay identity.But Oprah countered with eventual support from Haggard that not assuming the identity leads to lying about who you are which is what the disgraced pastor endured for most of his life throughout his 30+ year marriage.
As I watched Haggard speak I saw a more relaxed and comfortable man enjoying perhaps for the very first time life in his own skin. I also saw a person who was genuinely contrite and wanted to make things right with the people that he hurt. But most importantly I saw a man who is not yet finished with his spiritual journey.
Pelosi: Pastor Ted, last time I saw you, you were the king of a huge megachurch. Where did all your friends go?Haggard: They left. I violated the rules. I shouldn't have done that. So we're calling this stage in our life our exile. We've been exiled permanently from the state of Colorado. [The church was] instructed to take me and my wife and our children outside of the state of Colorado permanently to put down roots someplace else.
Pelosi: And how does it feel to be an exile?
Haggard: We're miserable.
After introducing us to Haggard's two teenage sons and loyal wife, all of whom are riding around in that U-Haul with him, looking for a place to maintain their sanity while hoping that officials at New Life Church will allow him to return home, we join Haggard on the job trail. "I feel like George Costanza," Haggard says after his first interview for a job as a phone rep, referring to the "Seinfeld" character's tendency to think he aced an interview when he really bombed it. (Haggard doesn't get the job either, even though he predicts he'll get it, "as long as they don't Google me.") Along the way, Haggard is remorseful for having been "a sinner," and takes pains not to blame his former church, even as they rub his nose in his own mess. Haggard is also quick to point out that he never spewed hate against gay men, he merely tried to help them find their way to God:
"I was never a hateful preacher, I was never an angry preacher, I was never an anti-gay preacher, other than saying -- and I still believe this, even though I'm a sinner and even though I'm weak -- God's best plan for human beings is for men and women to unite together and children's best opportunity to grow up in a healthy way is to grow up with their biological parents."
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