Governor Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were arrested this week for allegedly attempting to sell President Elect Obama’s Senate seat to the highest bidder. This started a media and political frenzy to rid this state of this corrupt man by any means possable! There is a call from both the Democrat and Republican leadership for a special session to have Governor Blagojevich’s power to appoint a sucsessor removed at once. The Attorney General has gone in front of the Supream court of Illinois and asked that the Governor be found unable to serve as Governor, and “naming the Lieutenant Governor as Acting Governor until such time as the Court resolves the merits of this action or otherwise determines that such disability has been removed.”

I know everybody has been waiting for this for years now but Republicans should step back and think this over carefully. Why should the Republicans help the Democrats out by going along with a quick removal? In the words of Governor Blagojevich “whats in it for me? This is a golden!”

Why should Republicans pretend that this is something so outrageous that we need to get this guy out of power ASAP. If your like me you said to yourself when you heard the charges, what about the last four years? These charges are from last month! The bringing of charges has done the job of stopping the Governor from selling the Senate seat. There is really no hurry, is there? The replacement will not be seated until the new congress now so the seniority argument is over.

It’s Christmas time, nothing is going to be done in Washington D.C. The Congress will be going on Christmas break at the end of this week. As a Republican I don’t see the emergency to replace President elect Obama in the Senate. It might even slow down the process of nationalization going on. Waiting would also force the Democrats to call a special election. A special election could let the GOP win that seat back. Because of the corruption involved by the Governor and the gaggle of Democrats who were ready to bargain for the seat, it could be the beginning of a comeback for Republicans. If the GOP could win the President elects Senate seat back it would also get even for the Speakers congressional seat the GOP lost. At the very least it can only help nationally by showing the American people where Obama came from! And statewide, does the Illinois Republican party really want the big income tax increase that will come when Blagojevich is removed? I hope not! That’s why I say let’s not rush, let’s see how this plays out.

I don’t want to sound as though this is not important but lets put it in perspective. I saw an interview with the prosecutor who sent George Ryan to jail, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick M. Collins, and he said that nothing has changed from yesterday to today. The Governor was not indicted he had a complaint filed against him. The Chicago media has made this such a huge story only because this involves President elect Obamas Senate seat and the city is filled with national media. As I said, this didn’t come as a surprise to anyone who pays any attention to Illinois politics. I have seen nothing that makes this such a emergency that we drop everything and get rid of the Governor by next week. If you look at some of the charges even U.S Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said that there is horse trading that goes on and it’s not illegal.

There is an old saying “There are two things you don’t want to see being made; sausage and laws” the complaint does make some serious allegations; but in the context of intra party dealing doesn’t this really just show how things work in the Illinois Democratic party? The Democrats let the Illinois GOP hang four years while George Ryan slowly moved to the left breaking the Republican party into pieces. We always hear how much more politically savvy the Democrats are; so why not take a page from them and use this to our advantage. Maybe Blagojevich would work with GOP more. Maybe we can stop the tax swap disaster of raising income taxes and lowering property taxes. Maybe we can get the Governor to cut spending. If not he will be out of office in less than 2 years anyway. It wouldn’t help the Democrat party. Why it might even lead them to civil war just like George Ryan did for the GOP. That would be awful…wouldn’t it?

Remember there were at least five Democrats lining up willing to make a deal for that seat. Also remember that Blagojevich learned all about politics at the knee of a ward committeeman, this is how things work in the Chicago Democratic party. Let’s let America see who the Illinois and especially the Chicago Democrats are. Let’s let it play out and let the Democrats swing in the wind, they would do it for us. It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys. Merry Christmas!

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Jim Leahy is a regular columnist for the Chicago Daily Observer.