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Risinger Talks About Being Impeachment "Juror"
A local lawmaker who was one of the 59-votes to cast the votes to remove Rod Blagojevich from the Governor's office and ban him from holding any future public office says he feels he was left with no other vote to cast.

37th District State Senator Dale Risinger says the evidence against Blagojevich was overwhelming, so voting to remove him from office was necessary, and believes that would have been the case had the Governor actually defended himself instead of just showing up to make a closing argument.

Risinger tells WGIL while he knew he was casting the right vote, he feels a little more than three days for the trial wasn't necessarily enough. "We didn't get much of a chance to ask any witnesses about political hiring and trying to go around the veteran's preference," Risinger (R-Peoria) said. "There were materials submitted, but when you have a witness, you're able to ask questions, and you're able to highlight it -- the public is able to hear that type of information, too."

Risinger says he doesn't think there could have been much the Governor could have done to save himself -- he says the Governor "insulated himself" from the General Assembly.

Despite numerous news releases sent out by the Illinois Republican Party again referring to new Governor Pat Quinn as a, quote, "Blagojevich Democrat," the Peoria Republican says he believes Quinn will be a lot better to work with.

To hear WGIL's full interview with Sen. Dale Risinger, CLICK HERE (mp3 format).
01 29 09 by Newsroom
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