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IA AG Tom Miller: Playing “Survivor” with Homeowners’ Futures

You may have heard that the Obama Administration and IA Attorney General are playing a giant game of Survivor with the homes of struggling Americans as the grand prize: they’ve kicked NY AG Eric Schneiderman off the island.

The New York Attorney General’s office was removed from a group of state attorneys general that is working on a nationwide foreclosure settlement with U.S. banks, according to a state official.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has raised concern about terms of a possible deal, was removed from the executive committee of state attorneys general, according to an e-mail today from Iowa Assistant Attorney General Patrick Madigan.

Only they made a key mistake in their little game of Survivor.

Update: I obviously misread IA Asst AG Patrick Madigan and IL AG Lisa Madigan. Meaning Miller’s the one making this public, not AG Madigan.

Well then I guess he’s just being a dick.

Update: Wow, in the longer version of the Bloomberg story, Miller gets even more dickish:

“New York has actively worked to undermine the very same multistate group that it had spent the previous nine months working very closely with,” Miller said. For a member of the executive committee, that “simply doesn’t make sense, is unprecedented and is unacceptable,” Miller said.

[And I removed my earlier screwup.]

IL Starts Blagojevich Impeachment Proceedings

The Madigan family is finally adopting the right approach to removing Governor Blagojevich from office: Michael Madigan has announced the House will begin impeachment proceedings.

Speaker Michael Madigan announced Monday that he’s appointing a special committee to review the case and recommend whether Blagojevich should be impeached.

Madigan says the committee will work every day except holidays.

”We’re going to proceed with all due speed, but we’re going to make sure that what we do is done correctly,” the Chicago Democrat said.

Once the committee makes a recommendation, the full House will decide whether to file impeachment charges against the governor. The Senate ultimately would rule on them.

I say the Madigan family is making the right move, because previously Michael’s daughter Lisa has been calling for the courts to remove Blago. 

Atty. General Lisa Madigan called on the Illinois Supreme Court today to temporarily remove Gov. Rod Blagojevich from office and appoint Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn as acting governor, "so the business of the state of Illinois can go forward."

I agree with Adam B that Lisa’s move–to use the courts–is inappropriate while her father’s more to start impeachment is appropriate. 

Blagojevich hasn’t been convicted of anything.  Technically, he hasn’t even been indicted yet; it’s just a criminal complaint.  And especially in the courts, Blagojevich should be entitled to a presumption of innocence.  So, yes, we tend to be fans here of Patrick Fitzgerald’s work, but what about a less scrupulous prosecutor in a state with a malleable Supreme Court?  A criminal complaint, by itself, shouldn’t be enough to empower a court to remove someone from office.

There are, thankfully, other remedies.  First of all, as I’ve noted before, under Article V of the Illinois Constitution he can resign voluntarily, or temporarily cede power "whenever the Governor determines that he may be seriously impeded in the exercise of his powers."

Assuming he doesn’t do the right thing, then impeachment and conviction by the Illinois Legislature under Article IV, section 14 is the superior approach.  Legislators are more accountable to the people than are judges — even elected judges — and they are more sensitive to the ramifications of a bad decision here.  Some things are better left to the political branches.

What Fitz has given us with his complaint is a list of things that–at least–passed the standard of the judge to arrest the Governor. Read more