The Illinois Senate voted to remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office Thursday with a 59-0 vote. This act marks the first time in the state’s long history of political corruption that a chief executive has been impeached and convicted.

The vote cam after several hours of public deliberation in which senator after senator stood up to blast Blagojevich, whose tenure lasted six years. And it came after a four-day impeachment trial on allegations that Blagojevich abused his power and sold his office for personal and political benefit.

The conviction on a sweeping article of impeachment means the governor was immediately removed from office. The Senate also unanimously voted to impose the “political death penalty” on Blagojevich, banning him from ever again holding office in Illinois.

Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, Blagojevich’s two-time running mate, has become the state’s 41st governor.

A reporter from the Daily Chronicle called me right before 5pm today.

“The Home Rule Petition has been challenged and I’d like to get your reaction to it,” he said.

“I wasn’t aware that it had been challenged,” I replied.

“It’s been challenged on two counts, the first being the most significant,” he said. “The first challenge was that there are 23,000 registered voters in DeKalb and therefore 10% of those are required and the petition only has 782 signatures.”

“There might be that many registered voters now,” I replied. “But the candidate petitions in this election are based on the last election with city business. For example, candidates for mayor and city clerk are required to get 5% of the voters in the last city election. They needed 301 signatures. We needed 10% which is 602 signatures.”

“Oh,” he said.

“Who filed the challenge?” I asked.

“Actually there were two people. One was Mike Larson and the other was David Castle,” he answered.

“Are you surprised?” he asked.

“I don’t know if I’m surprised by the challenges or not,” I answered. “I’m kind of surprised that you are calling me to tell me about it. I think that might be a violation. As the petitioner, I was told that I would be the first one called if a challenge was issued.”

“You’re the petitioner?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Well, I’ve got to…”

“What was the second challenge?” I asked.

“One of your petitioners wasn’t a registered voter.”

“I’ll need to ask that petitioner and do some checking,” I said.

“Well, that’s all I needed. Thanks for your cooperation.”

Click.

This is DeKalb. This is Illinois. This is politics.

Hopefully, someone calls me and lets me know if there is going to be a hearing. And when and where it will take place. Or, perhaps my presence isn’t really necessary.

In addition to being a squeaky wheel, I violated the City’s three-minute limit for citizens to speak. But I did my best to speak briefly and make my point. For those who believe I am a fashion trend-setter. The hat was purchased from the Indiana Jones souvenir rack at Blockbuster Video ($19.95). The orange shirt was bought at Steve and Berry’s (DeKalb) going out of business sale ($2). The coat was given to me by my good friend, Sal Bonanno. Special thanks to Mark Charvat for posting the video to youtube.

U.S. Constitution: Amendment 1 – Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

U.S. Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security [...]

I appreciate Alderman Simpson’s courteous and respectful statements in regards to my public comments. He is the first on the city council to public address the Home Rule issue. He and I will likely agree to disagree regarding the merits of increasing the public’s voice in government via referendum but his closing remark is spot on. Should voters revoke Home Rule in DeKalb, or not, he is prepared to do his job.

It was Donna Gorski’s turn to provide wind-up comments from the all day Saturday public meeting of DeKalb’s Mayor and City Council; the citizen’s finance advisory committee, city staff and members of the Executive Partner’s, Inc.

“I think maybe one of the presenters was trying to lead us in the direction they wanted to take,” said Gorski. “But I really liked the ham sandwich.”

There I sat. Convicted. And, I ate one of those great ham [insert plug for the Lincoln Inn folks, here] sandwiches, too. Donna was right on both counts. When I was presenting summary reports for the break-out group I was assigned to, I was trying to lead those assembled in a direction I’d like the City to take. I’m also guilty of deliberately singing out of tune with the choir.

We took our dreams from the first session, Be Happy Day, and sought to prioritize them and then set short and long term goals. My break-out group was Donna Gorski, Police Chief Bill Feithen, and myself. Our dreams from Happy Day was the quality of life in DeKalb.

On Happy Day our group listed a slew of things we thought would improve the quality of life in DeKalb. On this the Drill Down Day we were to select three from that list as our top priority. We all agreed that getting more jobs in DeKalb that pays living wages would be the best thing we could do to improve the quality of life. Donna convinced us (convincing is NOT the same as leading) that the East Lincoln Highway Corridor improvements she has been working on throughout her term as 4th ward alderman would also help the quality of life. I lobbied hard and got Intergovernmental Cooperation as the third most important item we could work for to improve quality of life.

The East Lincoln Highway Corridor project has incurred the costs of professional studies made necessary anytime you mess with a state highway. Funding priorities then shifted towards the downtown district and so Donna has been building neighborhood groups in the interim. She was pleased to announce that a new neighborhood group was forming in the Dodge Addition. She said the groups were looking to form some voluntary system to induce property maintenance improvements on the east side.

Intergovernmental cooperation would increase efficiency of government services by reducing or eliminating duplication of services. That could lower taxes and that would increase the quality of life in DeKalb. Remember, we were told not to limit ourselves on our dreams on Be Happy Day.

I was selected as our group’s presenter and I did my best to lead the assembly to buy into our suggestions.

Then it came time to assign short and long term goals to our recommendations to improve the quality of life in DeKalb. Our short term goals for jobs creation was to meet with existing DeKalb employers and ask them how the City could help them expand and hire more employees. I really believe that’s how we could make some immediate impact. And since TIF allows fund use for both job retraining and welfare to work programs we already have a funding source. CDBG monies can also be used for similar purposes.

Another short term goal, promoted by Bill Feithen, was to hire an economic development director, perhaps steal a good one from another community. I’m for the idea if we transfer funding from ReNew DeKalb and the Chamber ($50,000 each) to pay the salary. To me, if those organizations cannot fulfill the role of economic development adequately then their source of public funds is the best available versus adding to the burden on taxpayers.

The short term goal for the East Lincoln Highway Corridor improvements included Donna’s request to complete engineering studies. The short term goal for the Intergovernmental Cooperation is to form a body consisting of officials from the various taxing units.

Other break-out sessions included rating services for prioritization purposes. Marianne Anderson and I were assigned the police department. Since the services the police perform involve life and safety issues there are no services listed that were not high priority. At Marianne’s suggestion, we organized the services into relative groups and sought out services like public education, vehicle maintenance, etc., that perhaps could be centralized to reduce costs. Sharp gal.

The rebel in me was invoked during a session where we were to individually rate what taxes and fees we were willing to increase to pay for our prioritized goals. This could prove to be a very difficult exercise. First, I looked at all the easels and all the dreams and goals that were written on them. City finances, infrastructure, general City issues, economic development and quality of life. Now, how can we pay for them in light of the immediate budget crisis we are facing.

I looked down at my list of taxes and fees to increase. Then I looked at the drawing of an hour glass illustration we used to format the day’s Drill Down session. I remembered from earlier budget deliberations that our expenditures climbed 6% per year while our revenues only grew 3% per year. There, in the middle of the hour glass, was our solution.

We cannot increase any more taxes or fees until we learn to live within our means.