Posted on 01/30/2009 9:47:44 AM PST by John Leland 1789
I am asking the moderator to allow this because it was written by a bone fide gubernatorial candidate in Illinois in 2006. -------------------------------------------------
Dear Friends, Family and Fellow Constitutionalists,
As most of you know, by now, Rod Blagojevich has been impeached as the Governor of Illinois by a Senate vote of 59 to 0—a unanimous decision. Having watched most of the "Impeachment Tribunal" and much "Blagovision," I have a few comments/thoughts that I'd like to share.
It's our fault
Before I say one word about the impeachment proceedings or anything else for that matter, let me say without equivocation, "IT IS OUR FAULT!" It's bad enough that we did it the first time, but, We, the people of the state of Illinois, elected the governor to a second term in office.
Though, I will say that I did everything in my power to prevent the re-election of Governor Rod Blagojevich, I'm still a party of the system that elected him and so are you.
I make this commitment -- to continue doing everything within my power to get constitutional men and women who are dedicated to the principles of honor and integrity elected to every level and office of government. But, I can't do it by myself, we are going to have to work together to make this happen.
Its time we stopped depending on government paid prosecutors to bail us out of our self-induced misery. If you want something different, you must DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
Governor Blagojevich did not act alone.
As noted by several of the Senators during their speeches that argued for Governor Blagojevich's impeachment, Blagojevich could not have accomplished all that he did by himself and that there were others and even some within the Senate Chamber that had some culpability in the wrong-doings of the Governor.
One of those that I believe had culpability is the Illinois State's Attorney General, Lisa Madigan.
As some of you will recall, while I was running for Governor in 2006, I used the reports as part of my cry against corruption, that Auditor General, Mr. William Holland, had produced that very year, which reflected millions upon millions of taxpayer's dollars having been spent and then were totally UNACCOUNTED for. I remember the words "Scathing Report" being used back then as well.
I remember very distinctly it was reported that Mr. Holland was angry at the level of corruption that he had uncovered back then.
Mr. Holland not only submitted the report of his audit of several state departments to the Governor's Office, he also delivered that same report to the Office of the Attorney General. Ms. Madigan had every opportunity to root out corruption back then by indicting those responsible for the blatant mismanagement and misuse of taxpayer's dollars. It was hardly three months later that the Auditor General produced a similar report of corruption within several other state departments and yet nothing from either office.
Again, she not only had the opportunity, but a clear responsibility to the people of Illinois, who elected her, to go after the Governor during their first term in office, when, according to Mr. Holland's report and testimony, the Governor had "allegedly" broke state AND federal law.
As far as I have been able to ascertain, all these and other reports of criminal behavior through out the government of the state of Illinois have been summarily dismissed or ignored by the Office of the Attorney General and the word on the street is that the Attorney General, Lisa Madigan is going to be running for Governor in 2010. Can you just imagine what a team her and her dad, Illinois State Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan, would make if she were to become the Governor of Illinois?
"If I'd known they were listening."
I've heard, and I agree, that a measure of a man's character is not what he will do when all eyes are upon him, but what he will do when he thinks no one is watching.
The following two statements by Blagojevich would be funny if not for the gravity of the situation. The first was made during a television interview:
"If I had known they were listening in, I would not have used that type of language."
I'm sure his wife is thinking the same thing, as she was heard in the background using the same language.
Now actually, the second is kind of funny, consider the irony that he was on the phone discussing things that the "whole world" was indeed listening to.
"You got to be careful how you express that, and assume everybody's listening. The whole world is listening. I would do it in person. I would not do it on the phone"
I was thinking of "...Gandhi, Mandela and Martin Luther King."
Are you kidding me? I was driving in heavy traffic when I heard the following sound bite from then Governor Blagojevich. I nearly ran into the back of the vehicle in front of me from laughing so hard.
"When I was arrested, I thought about Mandela, Dr. King, and Gandhi..."
Supreme Executive
According to Article V, Section 8 of the Constitution of the state of Illinois, 'The Governor shall have the supreme executive power..."
Is there any doubt in anybody's mind that Governor Blagojevich took this supremacy to heart? It was poignantly obvious that he took this supremacy seriously when he attempted to justify the means to include going outside the law to accomplish the end.
Sadly, he failed to live out the constitutional purpose for this supremacy. The second clause of the article states, "... and shall be responsible for the faithful execution of the laws."
Pat Quinn
Lt. Governor Pat Quinn is now the Governor of the state of Illinois. According to the Constitution of the state of Illinois, the post of Lt. Governor will remain vacant for the remainder of the term.
Undoubtedly, Governor Pat Quinn will be using the remainder of the Governor's term to make a name for himself.
Governor Pat Quinn has an opportunity never before afforded a Governor of Illinois. He has the opportunity to clean up his predecessor's mess, without having been elected to do so. Even though it will make it harder to run against him in 2010, because of what it will mean to every citizen of Illinois, I pray that he is successful in doing so.
Stats
As mentioned in a previous message (and to now to include Ex-Governor Blagojevich):
* 5 of the last 9 Governors have been indicted for wrong doing
* 1 of the 5 Governors indicted was acquitted of charges (Stratton).
* 3 of the last 8 Governors have done (or is still doing) jail time for wrong-doing:
---Otto Kerner (33rd Governor, Dem.)
---Dan Walker (36th Governor, Dem.)
---George Ryan (39th Governor, Rep.)
* 2 of the 2 major parties have given us governors that have been corrupt beyond toleration.
A New Party
The iceberg of corruption is a fact within the political waters of Illinois, of which Blagojevich is just the tip -- the part that you see. Just like an iceberg, that corruption runs deep and wide and it is the part that you can't (or won't) see that has punctured the vessel of Illinois to the point of sinking.
There is an SOS (Save or Ship) distress signal that is being sent out. Like the Titanic, I believe the political ship that we have been aboard for so long has had its hull ripped open by corruption to the point of no return and that the only salvation for the people aboard is to abandon ship so as to be picked up by the only ship I believe has the ability to carry the people safely to shore and that is the good ship, "Constitution Party."
It's time to stop "bailing out" a two party ship that has brought this state and our country to its social and economic knees and start "jumping on" the only ship committed to RESTORING our great state and country to the constitutional republic that our founding father gave us.
The alternative is to stay on board and be overcome and overwhelmed by the frigid sea of self-server corruption, that will destroy the last vestige of liberty and economic freedom that we have in this state and country. Don't be caught on the lower decks when the bow of the ship finally succumbs to the waves that have been bashing against the hull for so long.
If you are ready to jump on board the Constitution Party here in the state of Illinois, please contact me, as we are preparing to win the 2010 Battle here in Illinois, against the culture of corruption that is so pervasive throughout our government, by electing principled men and women, who are dedicate to honor and integrity, to every office within the state of Illinois and throughout country.
If you are from another state, please let me know and I will point you in the right direction, or get you in contact with the Constitution Party in your state. For those of you who have already contacted me, please let me know if there has been follow through. We can't afford to let folks slip through the cracks, as I believe it is every citizen's responsibility for involvement.
Yours in Liberty,
Randall C. Stufflebeam
Chairman, Constitution Party of Illinois
www.ConstitutionPartyIL.com
Chairman-CPIL@cp-il.com
The link is dead for me... I guess they can’t handle FR traffic. :->
The Constitution Party: The party of the my way or the highway crowd...
Maybe the website problem is symbolic.. in theory, they have a website, but they are unable to actually make it work.
LOL!! The Constitution Party: The party that on a rise despite losing every election....
With all the complaints Conservatives have with RINOs, you would think they would rise up and get some decent leadership to try to grab that Conservative gap they claim to be, instead, they keep fronting people like Baldwin, Peroutka, or Loftin that purposefully keep them off the deep end.
One crook down 27,673 to go.
Stufflebeam’s vaunting a third party is useless. It doesn’t address the issue, which is statewide corruption orchestrated from Chicago. That corruption inflicts both parties albeit not equally. A third party will have zero affect because too many voters are tied to their corrupt politicians and would have no incentive to vote otherwise. It’s not honesty they want but results.
All Blagojevich did was shed some light on Illinois politics for those not used to what we who live here take for granted. Welcome to Illinois, folks.
It also assumes members of the third parties are not just as corrupt, even if they talk a big talk..
Of course. And that opens up a 'buyer beware' can of worms as many (if not most) of the third-party candidates would have little to no public experience to evaluate beforehand.
Politicians are agenda driven egoists. It's part of the package. And exactly the type of duck most amenable to 'what's in it for me' influences. All a third party would do would be to spread the wealth around a new tier of office seekers.
Hey Stufflebeam: I didn't vote for the corrupt 'Rat either time. It may be your fault, but it's most definitely not *my* fault.
Looked at another way, 1.8 million people in a state of 12 million, voted for Blago.
How many children voted for him?
Plus the fact that one of the Constitution Party platform is that we should be a Theocracy is why they way off the deep end..
The Illinois Senate didn’t impeaach Blago, it convicted him.
It was the IL House that impeached Blago. Like the US House of Representatives impeached Clinton but the Senate didn’t convict him — couldn’t even come up with a majority of votes for conviction (a two-thirds majority was required for convictio.)
Did anyone hear the speech the new Gov Pat Quinn gave yesterday? He TWICE referred to Che’ Rivera and how we in Illinois will now need to work together and help one another. So, we in Illinois lose a thief and gain a socialist....it’s like a poison slowly seeping down and around, but I’ll be damned if I won’t fight this with everything I’ve got. Wake up, Illinois, it’s right in our face, and we’d better do something about this seeping socialism before it’s too late.
2X
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