Bringing down Blagojevich: the Illinois legislature turned to impeachment after years at loggerheads with the defiant governor.

• Author: Patterson, John
• Position: Rod Blagojevich

When federal agents showed up at the front door of Governor Rod Blagojevich's Chicago bungalow to arrest him on conspiracy charges early one morning last December, they handed Illinois lawmakers the excuse they'd long sought to launch an impeachment investigation.

"It was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Once that happened," says Illinois Senator Terry Link, a Democrat from the suburbs north of Chicago, "it was very easy for us to do what we did."

For most of the country, the governor's high-profile arrest might have been the first they heard of his troubles. The charges included trying to pad his campaign fund by attempting to sell off President Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat, demanding a campaign contribution from a children's hospital executive in return for state funding, and even trying to force the firing of Chicago Tribune writers.

But in Illinois, the political and legal clashes surrounding Blagojevich's tenure had taken on a life of their own. They offer insights into the Capitol climate and the perspective of lawmakers as they launched the first-ever impeachment of an Illinois governor.

The impeachment might have come earlier but for the governor's astute maneuvering through the political infighting of Illinois politics. Despite ignoring the findings of auditors, refusing to abide by administrative orders and brushing off accusations of corruption, Blagojevich was able to avoid serious consequences until the political landscape changed.

"There were certainly many lawmakers who felt the governor abused and misused his executive authority," says Representative Barbara Flynn Currie, a Chicago Democrat and chairwoman of the impeachment investigation committee. "But I don't think for most lawmakers those charges, those complaints, those issues had risen to the level of impeachment."

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THE CONSTANT CONTRARIAN

Over the course of six years, Blagojevich alienated fellow Democrats, reneged on promises, ridiculed lawmakers, challenged their authority, and when things didn't go his way, ignored them and did what he wanted.

He routinely ordered them back to Springfield and kept them there, demanding they approve his proposals. While lawmakers spent their summers trapped downstate, Blagojevich stayed at home in Chicago, and on the rare occasions he did venture to the Capitol, he'd fly home on a state plane every afternoon rather than stay at the nearby Executive Mansion.

He compared Michael Madigan, chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party and speaker of the Illinois House, to Ho Chi Minh, questioned his credentials as a Democrat and accused him of being part of a "right-wing Republican effort to take health care away from children and take meals away from senior citizens."

A striking example of the disconnect played out at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. As Illinois Democrats witnessed Obama accept the historic...