Mistress hiring probe withdrawn amid partisan furor

SPRINGFIELD - Suburban state Rep. Jack Franks riled Republicans Wednesday by trying to win support for an investigation into whether a state lawmaker colluded with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to allegedly hire a secretary the lawmaker was having an affair with because the lawmaker's wife wanted the secretary fired.

Franks, a Marengo Democrat, wanted a vote that would urge the local state's attorney to investigate the claim, made recently by the disgraced former governor.

After loud protests from House Republicans, Franks withdrew the resolution.

Blagojevich called lawmakers drunks and adulterers on a Chicago radio show on Feb. 11 and claimed one lawmaker tried to get the governor to hire his mistress. Blagojevich offered no names or identities.

Those same lawmakers impeached and removed Blagojevich for abuse of power in January.

Franks said he asked for the investigation "to help clean up government and to make it more open and accessible and accountable."

Republican leader Tom Cross of Oswego mocked that explanation and said Democrats were trying to "teach a lesson" to Republicans for daring to question how U.S. Sen. Roland Burris was appointed and how the Blagojevich impeachment inquiry was conducted.

In return, Cross suggested Republicans would start looking into everything Blagojevich, a Democrat, has said about House Democrats.

"We're going to ask for a criminal investigation if that's the game we're going to play," Cross said. "If that's the road you want to go down, so be it."

Franks said he has no idea which lawmaker Blagojevich was referring to, and suggested the vehement opposition from Republicans implied they did. He denied Cross' claims of partisanship. "This is not a witch hunt," Franks said.