A Guest Column by

53^rd District * August 2007

320 North Plum Street                                                                       Phone: 815/842-3632

Pontiac, IL 61764                                                                                    Fax: 815/842-2875

danrutherford@danrutherford.com                                            www.danrutherford.com

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Impeachment process not to be taken lightly

As overtime session of the Illinois Legislature continues through the summer with no end to the budget stalemate in sight, frustrations have reached an all-time high at the State Capitol, throughout government and around the State.  Amidst the debating, negotiating and overall lack of progress on a spending plan for Illinois, some citizens have begun to question the leadership of the State and have openly considered the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

While I do not believe it is appropriate to bring impeachment charges against the Governor due to the current budget crisis, the call by some does present the opportunity to examine two different ways an elected official can be removed from office—by impeachment or in some states, a recall vote.

In 1997, as a State Representative, I was one of the ten House members on a select committee assigned to the impeachment investigation of the Supreme Court Chief Justice.  This was a task we all took seriously, and it provided me with a unique perspective on the impeachment process.

Impeachment is a rare, serious, and seldom-used power to begin the process of forcibly removing an elected official from office. It is such a rare occurrence that there are many misconceptions on what impeachment actually means and how the process works; however, it’s interesting to note that the Illinois Constitution does not require any specific reasons to justify the impeachment of an official. 

In its most basic form, impeachment is the formal statement of charges against a government official.  In Illinois, the process starts in the House of Representatives where an investigation begins, and a majority vote is needed to approve bringing formal charges of wrong-doing against an elected official.  If the House approves the charges, the official is considered impeached.

If the House of Representatives votes for impeachment, the process moves to the Senate where consideration of the impeachment charges begins.  The Senate convenes a process similar to a courtroom trial—witnesses are brought in to testify on the merits of the charges.  The Senate President acts as the presiding officer of the proceedings for impeachments of elected officials, but in the case of the impeachment of a Governor, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is the presiding officer.

A two-thirds majority in the Senate is needed to convict the official of the charges. According to the Illinois Constitution, the only sentence the impeached official can receive from the Senate is removal from office and disqualification to hold future public office in Illinois.  Any additional criminal charges would have to be filed by a law enforcement agency.

Simply stated, impeachment is like a grand jury investigation which is conducted by the House.  The Senate conducts the actual trial.

Another way to remove an elected official from office is through the use of a recall election. Currently, only eighteen states permit a recall election to remove a statewide officer—Illinois is not one of those states, but it could added to the Illinois Constitution if there is a decision to convene a Constitutional Convention in the future.

In the states where a recall is allowed, the recall election can only be held once a certain number of voter signatures are collected and filed within the determined time period. Once the signatures are verified, an election is held and voters are asked if they would like the official in question removed from office and who they would like to replace that official.

The high profile 2003 California recall of Gov. Gray Davis removed him from office and brought us Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Because it involves overriding a popular election, one of the most basic democratic rights, state and federal constitutions take removal of an elected official from office very seriously.  In fact, it happens so rarely that in the few states that actually allow for a recall vote, only twice have governors been removed from office – Gov. Davis in California and Gov. Lynn J. Frazier from North Dakota in 1921.  Only eleven governors have been impeached in the US, with only six of those being removed from office.

Again, impeachment is a rare, serious, and seldom-used power that should not be considered lightly.  It is a sobering responsibility afforded lawmakers and the citizens of Illinois.

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