Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has become the first governor in Illinois history to be impeached, the New York Times reports.
The Illinois House of Representatives voted, in an overwhelming majority vote of 114 to 1, to impeach the governor who has been accused of trying to sell President-elect Obama’s former senate seat to the highest bidder.
The case will now go to the Senate for trial, where two-thirds of the senate need to vote in favor of his impeachment for him to be officially expelled from office. Blagojevich was ousted on the grounds of abusing his power as the state’s chief executive.
“I believe we’re finally doing what we should have done a long time ago” said Jack Franks, a democrat on the House’s panel.
The Illinois court did however rule that Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to Obama’s former senate seat is indeed valid.
Blagojevich told media in a press conference this afternoon that he was not guilty and would fight the ruling “every step of the way.”
The last U.S. governor to be impeached was Evan Mecham of Arizona, who was kicked out in 1988 on charges of obstruction of justice, misuse of government funds and filing a false statement after just 15 months in office.
Way to make a place for yourself in the history books, Blagojevich.
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