The Latest In The Blagoje-mess

Here's the latest on the scandal involving Rod Blagojevich, the first Illinois governor to be accused of corruption since George Ryan:

Resignation: State officials, including leaders of the Legislature, are preparing to put in motion the mechanics that get Blagojevich out of office, one way or another. Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and Attorney General Lisa Madigan, both Democrats, have demanded the governor's resignation. Michael Madigan, the powerful speaker of the House and Lisa's father (a longtime foe of Blagojevich), says he will begin the process of impeachment hearings as soon as next week. His counterpart in the upper body, state Senate President Emil Jones, says the same.

Everyone on the face of the Earth now knows how to pronounce it.

Lisa Madigan said on CNN today, "I am prepared to take action. ... I have the opportunity to go to our Illinois Supreme Court and ask them to declare our governor is unable to serve and put in our lieutenant governor [Quinn] as acting governor."

The governor has given no indication he is contemplating quitting, but for all we know, a plea bargain that includes his resignation could be in the works.

Senate Appointment: Throughout all this, Blagojevich retains the power to name a successor to Barack Obama, who resigned his Senate seat last month. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called on the governor not to do it, reminding him that the Senate might very well reject the appointment, which it has the power to do.

Special Election: First floated on Tuesday by Sen. Dick Durbin (D), this may be the subject of a special session of the Legislature next Monday — to remove the power of appointing a senator from the governor and put it in the hands of the voters. One thing a special election does is take away the certainty of Obama's successor being a Democrat. Voter revulsion to the current situation — not to mention a potential negative fallout to the Democrats who had been angling for the appointment — could benefit a Republican candidate. Congressman Mark Kirk, who survived the Obama juggernaut last month, winning a fifth term in his district in the northern suburbs of Chicago, is a likely candidate.

Perhaps for that reason alone, Quinn has hinted that his preference, should he become governor, is to make the appointment himself.

Those Democratic "Candidates": Certainly not good news for Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., identified as "Senate Candidate 5" in secretly taped phone recordings of the governor — someone who was said to be willing to "pay to play." But Jackson, son of the civil rights leader and the national co-chair of the Obama campaign, insisted that neither he nor anyone associated with him offered the governor any financial incentive to appoint him to the Senate. "I did not initiate nor authorize anyone, at any time, to promise anything to Governor Blagojevich on my behalf. I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer or to propose a deal about the U.S. Senate seat." Jackson added that he was told by prosecutors that he is not a target of the investigation. He has also called on the governor to resign.

Other names bandied about as potential appointees to the Senate are three other members of Congress — Luis Gutierrez, Jan Schakowsky and Danny Davis — as well as the aforementioned Senate President Emil Jones and state veterans affairs chief Tammy Duckworth. It is unclear how much any or all of them are now tainted as potential replacements.

Another name thought to be on the list is Lisa Madigan, but for a completely different reason: Madigan had long been thought to be weighing a primary challenge to Blagojevich in 2010, and so some were speculating that the gov might appoint her to the Senate to get her out of Springfield. That never seemed a realistic possibility to us.

Obama connection: The president-elect, who has already called on Blago to go, expanded on that at a news conference today. He said he never spoke to the governor about the appointment, and "I'm confident that no representatives of mine would have any part of any deals related to this seat." Some are wondering, though, if incoming presidential Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel — who won Blagojevich's House seat and if nothing else is thought to be on better speaking terms with the governor than Obama — had such conversations with him about the Senate vacancy.

Ryan's Song: The current ethics imbroglio surrounding Blagojevich may make life more difficult for his predecessor. That's the opinion of ex-Gov. Jim Thompson (R), who has been leading the effort to get President Bush to pardon George Ryan, the Republican who served one term as governor immediately prior to Blago. It's not clear whether Bush ever had the inkling to pardon Ryan, who was convicted of corruption in 2006 and is serving a 6 1/2-year prison term, but I suspect the likelihood has now evaporated.