Impeachment drive slowed against Illinois governor

[BlueJessamine]

Source: AP News

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois lawmakers could be forced to build their impeachment case against Gov. Rod Blagojevich on a raft of relatively small grievances, rather than the blockbuster Senate-seat-for-sale allegations, for fear of undermining federal prosecutors' criminal investigation.

Members of the state House impeachment committee said Thursday they will do nothing that would interfere with the investigation by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. If Fitzgerald asks lawmakers not to interview certain witnesses, they will abide by that, they said.

"We do not want to get in the way of the United States attorney doing the work he does, and so whatever he says about where we can and can't go in our investigation, we are going to just simply say, `Fine, sir,'" said state Rep. Lou Lang, a suburban Chicago Democrat.

The committee would then probably emphasize some lower-profile allegations of misconduct against Blagojevich. Among them: defying the Legislature, failing to honor reporters' Freedom of Information requests, and trading state jobs and contracts for campaign contributions.



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[IsItJustMe]

1. Blaga is not going anywhere anytime soon.