Digital News Report- State legislators vote 114 to 1 to make Governor Blagojevich the first Illinois governor to be impeached and will attempt try him on the charge that he abused his power. Blagojevich has been accused of trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. He eventually selected Roland Burris for the seat, which was first met with much resistance from Senate Democrats.
In a press conference today, Blagojevich said that the decision was, “not a surprise” and that they had been trying to impeach him since 2007. He went on to list his numerous attempts at improving Illinois and how the State House seemingly blocked him at every turn. He was joined by a group of people who he claims benefited from his persistence.
He repeated that he was “not guilty” and that he was “confident that the end of the day [he] would be exonerated.” He then went on to quote a poem by the English poet Tennyson before quickly leaving the stage without answering a single question.