Rod Blagojevich

“ And the people of our great nation have told us, in no uncertain terms, that we are at a crossroads of confidence in our ability to return the ideals that make the United States the greatest nation in the world. Faced with these challenges, and challenged with these crises, it is incomprehensible that the people of the great state of Illinois will enter the 111th Congress short-handed. To fight a choking recession and return our economy to a level of vitality and strength, we need leadership in Washington. ”

“ Think about the dangerous precedent of removing me without proving any wrongdoing. If it could happen to a governor, it could happen to any citizen.
And then I would say to all of you, think about the things we’ve been able to do together. Health care for all of our kids, first in the nation. Preschool for three and four year-olds, best in the nation. Record amount of money in education. All of our senior citizens riding public transportation for free. Holding the line on taxes. Think about all the good things we’ve been able to do for people. ”

“ However, as much as I'd love to participate in the Senate trial and in the Senate process, under the current rules that the Senate provides, they're not allowing me to participate in that process. To participate in a process that denies fundamental fairness, fundamental due process [2] , to be part of a process that doesn't allow for calling of witnesses and worse than that, doesn't allow for me or any citizen to challenge charges that are brought against me, is a fundamental violation of the Constitution, it is a trampling of the Constitution. ”

“ So I’m here to appeal to you, to your sense of fairness, your sense of responsibility and to the truth — and to the truth. I’m asking you to acquit me and give me a chance to show my innocence. And if you’re not comfortable with an acquittal, than extend this process and get more evidence if you can get it to show that I did something wrong or give me a chance to bring my evidence in, bring my witnesses in, to show you I did nothing wrong. But don’t set a dangerous precedent removing the governor who was elected by the people on these grounds. ”

“ There hasn't been a day that's gone by since I've been governor that I haven't thought about my parents, their struggles and their sacrifices, and have tried to fight a system that listens to special interests and lobbyists and puts the burden on all of the troubles in -- in our state on the backs of the hardworking people who are the ones who should be looking to government for help, not the other way around. ”

“ As the greatest nation in the history of the world, the United States is confronted with a crisis of faith in our own leadership capability and in our ability to bring understanding to nations who look to us for peace and prosperity. ”

“ And, fortunately for us, we have the Illinois breast and cervical cancer program, the only one of its kind in America that allows for all 261,000 uninsured women in our state to get those mammograms, get the cervical cancer screenings. And, God forbid, cancer is found, like it was with that woman in Humboldt Park, then we'll treat that cancer and then try to help save her life. ”

“ If I don’t make this appointment, then the people of Illinois will be deprived of their appropriate voice and vote in the United States Senate. Therefore, I am here to announce my intention to appoint an individual who has unquestioned integrity, extensive experience, and is a wise and distinguished senior statesman of Illinois. This man actually once was an opponent of mine for governor.
So I’m here today to announce that I am appointing Roland Burris as the next United States senator from the Illinois. Roland Burris is no stranger to the people of our state. ”

“ Though we are not now the strength which in old days moved Earth and Heaven, that which we are, we are. One equal temper, of heroic hearts, made weak by time and by fate, but strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. ”

“ Imagine how you’d feel when the presumption of innocence that every American citizen has a right to is completely wiped out because of sensationalization of the media and other things and then you don’t even have a chance to be able to come around and figure out what happened. ”

“ When you’re trying to help senior citizens afford their medicines, instead of just giving them a bunch of political baloney in speeches and say you care but then you don’t do anything about it but you found a way that you can actually do something and help them be able to have a better quality of life, not ration their medicine, maybe extend their lives, the means are legal because, if they’re not, then the governor of Wisconsin, the governor of Kansas and Ted Kennedy and Rahm Emanuel and John McCain and others ought to be co-conspirators with me. ”

“ So the principle of whether I stay in office or not is far, far less important than the broader principles of protecting our Constitution and protecting the rights of individuals, the rights of individuals accused falsely or not so falsely. To give them a chance to be able to have their day and protect themselves and let the truth decide what in fact is the truth. ”

“ Roland Burris stands heads and shoulders above most elected officials in this nation. And so, there is no rhyme nor reason that he should not be seated in the U.S. Senate.
This is a matter of national importance. There are no African- Americans in the Senate, and I don’t think that anyone — any U.S. senator, who’s sitting in the Senate, right now, wants to go on record to deny one African-American for being seated in the U.S. Senate. ”

“ Think about your responsibilities when the people choose you and you know you’ve kept your faith with them, but everybody else is saying you didn’t, but if you quit and give up and leave without having a chance to prove your innocence, how you’ve abandoned them and you’ve quit on them and you’ve violated your commitment to them. ”

“ If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs and blaming it on you; if you can trust yourself when all men doubt you and make allowance for their doubting, too; if you can wait and not be tired by waiting ”

“ Now, they may be for or against me, they may like me or not, but the people of Illinois have every right to expect that the decision they've made when they've chosen a governor, if he or she is going to be removed from office, that the process ought to at least have fundamental fairness and have all the safeguards that our Constitution guarantees to all of our citizens. ”

“ And for those of use who make the rules, and we can provide health care to ourselves and our families, then we should be able to provide the same kind of health care to the rest of the citizens who hired us to represent them. ”

“ Only if you go to Canada, you can get it for 40 or 50 percent less and save money for senior citizens.
And how many of us believe in free trade? Democrats believe in it, and I know you guys on the Republican side of the aisle believe in it. And yet somehow on the issue of prescription drugs, we don’t have free trade. We can’t go to Canada, our number one trading partner, and get the medicines that are necessary to save the lives of our seniors and our families and our children. ”

“ And even more important than my daughters, the people of Illinois. It is painful to be in a position like this. It’s painful to hold your tongue and not be able to say too much because people are telling you, you shouldn’t do anything and they’ve already rushed to judgment and said you did something you didn’t do. It is painful to be in a car and drive and see people sitting, standing at bus stops or walking down the street who voted for you, presumably — more of them did than didn’t — and they hired you and trusted you and you’re dying to tell them, I didn’t do it. ”

“ In my view, those of us who make the rules ought to be able to follow a simple lesson that I was taught to believe in in Sunday school called the Golden Rule: that you should do unto others as you would have others do unto you. ”

“ Last weekend in his national radio address, President Clinton announced a report confirming that gun shows are becoming a buyer's mecca for criminals, with over 56,000 illegal firearms transfers.
Mr. Speaker, it is time for Congress to act. There should not be a place anywhere in America where criminals can buy guns with no questions asked. ”

“ So I call on the Chicago Tribune editorial board and the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board and editorial boards all across the state to look carefully at these two rules, Rule 8B and Rule 15F, and weigh in and encourage the state Senate to change those rules so that I can have a chance to present my case, defend myself, bring witnesses and be able to let the truth of the matter present itself in a fair way. ”

“ Illinois is blessed to have an intelligent and dedicated congressional caucus led by our senior United States senator Dick Durbin. Moreover, President-elect Barack Obama has — [INAUDIBLE] — and ready to hit the ground running on January 20th. If ever there is a man with the talent to succeed against the long odds, it is he. ”

“ And I’ve got to tell you, the fact that we have an inspector general was something that I pushed very hard for. And, yes, it gets embarrassing sometimes when your own inspector general finds that some people who work for you may not have done something right. But the greater good is served because you’re policing the system and making sure that people don’t do things they shouldn’t do and have a better understanding on some of the things they shouldn’t be in a position to be able to do. ”

“ And it, kind of, reminds me a little bit about the situation that I'm in and all the men and women who've supported me and given me a chance to be their governor and given me a chance to be able to fight for families like the ones who are here today and fight for families like the one I came from -- an immigrant father who was a factory worker and a steel worker who worked 40, 50, 60, 70 hours a week, who sacrificed; a working mom who worked for the Chicago Transit Authority and passed out transfers at the subway stations. They never owned a home. ”

“ Imagine going to bed one night thinking everything is fine, excited about decisions that you’re going to make, confident that you’ll be able to get a lot of the things you’ve been trying to do before done, like creating jobs, extending health care and protecting taxpayers and doing some other things. ”

“ And then imagine what it’s like when you realize what it is and you get home and the whole world’s like outside your house and then you, before you can even catch a breath, everybody has convicted you. ”

“ We had a contract with IDOT where we certified minority businesses, and we did a good job. And I think the law firm, of which I’m of counsel — that was my son’s law firm — and we received some bond business and we were co-bond counsel as a minority firm, and they did a tremendous job. ”

“ And I would suggest that while they're busy trying to throw me out of office, they may actually want to stop families from being thrown out of their homes, because when every day passes after Christmas, 400 families are being thrown out of their homes because of the foreclosure crisis. ”

“ But then she came to one of our Pink Potluck programs in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
That's a program that we have to go out pro-actively and find women who don't have insurance and encourage them to get mammograms to screen for the possibility that they may have breast cancer. ”