One Solitary Congressman Votes Against Blagojevich Impeachment

The legislators of Illinois put Blagojevich in his place in their own way by letting him know the place he has as Governor isn’t the place he is likely to keep. But one man had another opinion and voted opposite of his colleagues. Events keep unfolding in the Blagojevich saga. But when the tide moves in one direction and a solitary voter in the other, sometimes it’s important to follow the contrary flow. So who is this solitary voter and why did he not vote for impeachment. He didn’t speak up for Blagojevich, as the media reported there was no one who stood up and said anything in favor of the Governor. Rep. Milton Patterson, a Chicago Democrat, made the that sole vote against impeaching Blagojevich, and perhaps it would be good to find out why. That’s because there have been enough times in political history for something that appeared to be true found false and the reverse as well. Phone call records and accusations abound against the Governor. Why would Patterson alone refrain from saying that even the appearance of impropriety would make a reasonable impeachment situation? What does he know or believe that the others don’t? What would he have to gain for being contrary? Rep. Patterson spoke to the issue after the vote, saying he had no comment on whether or not Blagojevich had been a good governor and maintained he wasn’t defending anybody. Still he mentioned he didn’t believe it was his job to defend the governor. He said: "

I think the committee did an excellent job in the report, it was just there was not enough for me to feel comfortable with a decision to do that...I did not feel comfortable voting based upon what I heard and read, simple as that."

The story in the Chicago media mentioned that Patterson believes he was doing his job, went by his own gut feeling, and that the government should follow through. He isn’t sure about whether there will be any backlash to his opinion and vote. One vote against something sometimes has special meaning, but the country won’t know whether Patterson’s gut is right or the rest of the legislators’ vote today. In the meantime this story seems endless, so stay tuned for any news on how circumstances might change. It’s doubtless they will change much for the Governor, according to news updates today.