Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
I read in the New York Times this morning about the allegations regarding Governor Blagojevich's selling of the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. As the saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. I'm not sure why the Illinois Senate seats are appointed by the Governor and not elected by the people. Hopefully the laws in Illinois will change to appoint the Senate seats by election. Checks and balances are a good thing in politics.
Typically when an office such as a Senate seat is vacated in the middle of the term, the Governor gets to appoint the replacement to serve out the remainder of the term, or possibly until the next general election. At that point the seat is up for election like normal. I think the Governor's appointment is mainly a stopgap measure, so the seat doesn't stay vacant until the next election.
But yes, Blagojevich "selling" the appointment is despicable.
Posted by Stuart Marks on December 11, 2008 at 05:30 PM PST #
I should have made myself more clear. When there is a vacancy, such as is the case when a Senator accepts another position or when they cannot fulfill their duties any longer (e.g. a medical condition), a special election should be held to fill the position by the people's choice rather then have the Governor appoint a person. This power has been abused before and will most likely be abused again. Either that, or there should be provisions for the position to be automatically filled by another, until such time that an election can take place, if the elected person can no longer serve his or her duties, as is the case with the President and Vice-President.
Posted by Darryl Mocek on December 12, 2008 at 08:32 AM PST #