Out with the governor, Thursday, January 29

As one of the state senators said today, “It’s not that this governor has made Illinois a national joke, it’s that he has hurt the economy of local communities.” We get to the Capitol at 9:20 today and the Senate galleries were packed already. Of course, once you get the press in there and the friends and families of senators, there are 45 seats left for others. There are 12 people ahead of us in line outside the gallery; we have some interesting conversations with those around us; Norb and I are interviewed by Marianne Ayers of WMAQ, Chicago; but we don’t get into the gallery. Word is that the people already in there can stay as long as they want. If they get up to go to the bathroom, they lose their seats. We figure that the chances that 12 people out of 45 are going to do this by the time the Governor speaks are pretty low. So we head down a floor and explore the capitol.

Word spreads that he is going to be coming down the hall and up the elevator to the Senate chambers so everyone takes up a position on the railing overlooking the hall. Next thing you know word comes down that he is in the Senate. We go down to the basement cafeteria where they are broadcasting his appeal to the Senate. We listen and shake our heads in disbelief at his approach—basically, he says, I should be forgiven any wrongs because I did them to help the sick and the children and the elderly. Also, you shouldn’t impeach me because it would be so embarrassing to my children. Amazing.

We leave to go to lunch and out the west door where his SUV is sitting and the photographers are poised to catch Blago as he departs. I have had enough so I head to the car and wait. The SUV pulls out and drives to the south door, with photographers in hot pursuit. As it turns out, we see Blago come out of the building and into the car. Big deal!

We are told that Lt Gov Quinn and the Illinois supreme court justices are standing by to swear in a new governor. Also word is that the governor was quick to get on the plane back to Chicago while he still had a state plane at his beck and call. Each of the senators gets 5 minutes at speak—all 59 of them. We watch the vote on the TV and, I must admit, are amazed that it is 59 to 0.

We watch the Weather channel to see what is going on south of us, trying to figure our where the terrible ice storm has hit and how that affects our travel path. Even on the internet we can’t figure out what is going on. They are predicting anothing big storm coming in next week. We are planning to be south of it all by Tuesday, and hope that we don’t have a rough time getting through the storm area.