August, 2010: Our indepth interview with David Ellis, who was then the Counsel for Speaker Michael Madigan, when Gov Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinos Senate in January, 2009.
As the Prosecutor of Gov Blagojevich in the Senate trail, Mr Ellis laid out the evidence and played audio recordings of the governor’s taped comments — he also was a primary organizer for how the impeachment would be handled.
Organization was key. For never before in Illinois history, had a governor been removed from office by impeachment.
In this 90 minute interview, David Ellis gives us a behind the scenes viewpoint of what Speaker Madigan and others thought of Gov Blagojevich. We hear how early on, the relationship between the Speaker and the Governor turned sour. We hear how the governor had virtually no supporters in the House, even from Democrats.
And, we get Mr Ellis’ insights into the evidence that was presented that lead the Illinois Senate to unanimously vote to remove the governor from office in late January, 2009 — just a weeek after a former Illinois State Senator, Barack Obama, was sworn into office as the nation’s 44th President.
January, 2009 — quite a month in the history of Illinois!
David Ellis subsequently became a judge and continues to serve in that capacity. He is also a writer of fiction novels.
