via e-mail.............

Last night House Speaker Mike Madigan refused to strip Rod Blagojevich of his appointment powers even though 2/3 of Illinois voters overwhelmingly support a special election.

If Democrats, who vocally supported the idea of a special election, don't strip Blagojevich of his appointment and give a vote to the people voters will hold them accountable.

We clearly support impeachment, but that process could take weeks, even months.  

Rod Blagojevich's appointment powers must be stripped immediately and the people must be given an opportunity to vote.  Democrats like Mike Madigan (who leads the House) and Emil Jones (who leads the Senate) are particularly vulnerable since they were the co-chairmen of
Rod Blagojevich's re-election campaign in 2006, even though they knew Rod Blagojevich was under a multitude of federal and state investigations.  

Any suggestion that Democrats who endorsed or supported Governor Blagojevich did not know about these investigations is complete fiction - it was widely reported.

Democrats hold every major office in Illinois and I only need to point you to the right track/wrong track number within our survey for you to understand the deep level of dissatisfaction with the direction of Illinois government.

Please e-mail me at ltrover@ilgop.org or call me at 312-201-9000 with any questions.

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Illinois Voters Want Rod Blagojevich Stripped of His Appointment Powers

Overwhelming Support for a Special Election

The survey results clearly show that Illinois voters are very dissatisfied with Rod Blagojevich and the Democrat leadership. The voters want Rod Blagojevich stripped of his appointment powers so he can't pick the next US Senator. Instead, the voters are calling for a special election to fill Barack Obama's US Senate seat. If the Democrats don’t strip Rod Blagojevich’s appointment powers, the voters would be outraged. Democrats endorsed Rod Blagojevich’s re-election in 2006 despite him
being under investigation and the numbers clearly show that the Democrats will pay a high price. 

• Illinois voters are sending a strong message to Democrats who control ever level of state government. An overwhelming majority (79%) believes things in Illinois are headed off on the wrong track. Only 14% thinks things are going in the right direction. This very strong negative sentiment cuts across party lines.

• Regardless of party affiliation, most Illinois voters (88%) have an unfavorable
  opinion of Rod Blagojevich. Only 8% has a favorable opinion of him.

• Two-thirds (66%) of the electorate favors the state legislature passing a new law
  requiring a special election to fill Barack Obama’s unexpired term as US Senator rather than letting the Governor pick the next US Senator. Only 26% oppose a special election. This large majority support for a special election is strongest among Republicans (74%) but is also strong among Democrats (64%) and Independents (65%). In the collar counties and downstate, the support for a special election is huge (71% and 70% respectively).

• 70% of voters would be less likely to vote for a candidate for office in Illinois who supported or endorsed Rod Blagojevich’s re-lection for Governor in 2006 even though he was already under investigation for 3-years. The “less likely to vote” result is strongest among Republicans (82%) but is also strong among Democrats (66%), Independents (66%), and voters in Cook County (65%), City of Chicago(65%) and the collar counties (76%). Clearly, Democrats who are tied to Blagojevich are vulnerable.

Methodology: This Illinois statewide survey of 600 likely voters was conducted on December 15, 2008 by McLaughlin & Associates. 

All
interviews were conducted by professional interviewers via telephone. Interview selection was at random within predetermined geographic units. These units were structured to statistically correlate with actual general election turnout.

The
accuracy of the sample of 600 likely voters is within +/- 4.0% at a 95% confidence interval. Below is verbatim wording of the questions.

Would you say things in Illinois are headed in the right direction, or would you say things are headed off on the wrong track?

Will
you please tell me if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of
Rod Blagojevich? If you have no opinion or have never heard of him,
just say so.

Do
you favor or oppose the State Legislature passing a new law requiring a
special election to fill Barack Obama's unexpired term as US Senator
rather than letting the Governor pick the next Senator?

If
a candidate for office in Illinois supported or endorsed Rod
Blagojevich’s re-election for Governor in 2006 even though he was
already under investigation for 3 years, would that make you more or
less likely to vote for that candidate?  If it would make no difference, just say so.

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