Seeking impeachment would be extreme

Last Thursday, the Illinois Senate swiftly denied giving citizens of one of the most corrupt states in the union something they desperately need -- a chance to initiate reform on their own by bouncing bad people out of office.

The Illinois House had approved giving voters an opportunity to amend the state constitution so they could have the power to recall elected officials from office. But Democrats in the Illinois Senate stopped the recall movement dead in its tracks.

A recall bill really never had a chance in the Senate. Not when it allowed for impeachment of judges, a provision that was not in the House bill. Not when there was political pressure to reject any form of recall in Senate.

But not allowing a recall amendment onto the November ballot just shows contempt for voters. They've been told they should have no right to have a say in throwing people out of public office who do not live up to their promises to conduct themselves honestly and competently. Goodness knows that has happened often enough in Illinois. Certainly enough to warrant a recall amendment, contrary to the views of those state senators who believe recall is bad policy.

No it's not.

But what would be bad policy is if legislators, acting out frustration over failure of recall, followed through with calls for impeachment proceedings against the No. 1 target of the recall movement - Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

First off, what has Blagojevich done to merit impeachment? The state constitution does not provide guidance on what constitutes an impeachable offense. Given such vagueness, we would guess impeachment of Blagojevich could be sought on grounds of incompetence. And certainly this wouldn't be difficult to prove. But do we really want to initiate something as serious as impeachment on the grounds of a public servant doing a poor job?

Blagojevich has not committed any criminal act or even been accused of such. Yes, the federal corruption probe is reaching into the governor's office, but Blagojevich has not been handed any indictment.

And even if Blagojevich were to be targeted for impeachment for simply being the terrible governor he is, he might have enough allies in the Senate to escape conviction, if impeachment got that far. After all, the Senate wasn't about to give voters the power to recall Blagojevich. Why would it convict him to clear the way for impeachment?

And try to imagine an impeachment proceeding based on vague grounds. It would be the most hideous political circus in the state capital we've seen yet. It would accomplish little more than serve as a distraction lawmakers would love to have to get away from the harder work of actually governing the state. Blagojevich would get a well-deserved pounding from a long and loud impeachment proceeding -- even as the axles of our cars would still be getting bent in potholes, public transportation would still be waiting at the station for more funding and our property taxes would still be going up.