Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich doesn't plan to resign tomorrow, a spokesman said, contradicting speculation by the state's attorney general that the governor might quit in response to federal corruption charges.
"Not true -- the Gov has no plans of resigning tomorrow," Lucio Guerrero, a spokesman for Democrat Blagojevich, said today in an e-mailed statement.
Blagojevich, 52, has ignored calls to resign since his Dec. 9 arrest at his Chicago home for what U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald called "a political corruption crime spree." The governor and his former chief of staff, John Harris, 46, were accused of attempting to sell President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat, soliciting bribes and trying to pressure the Chicago Tribune to halt critical editorials.
The scandal means Illinois, the fifth most-populous state, may have to wait several months to bring its Senate contingent to full strength if lawmakers succeed with plans to strip Blagojevich of authority to fill Obama's seat, said Charlie Wheeler, an associate professor at the University of Illinois- Springfield. Every U.S. state is entitled to two Senate seats.
"The damage Rod Blagojevich has done to this state is going to last very long," Judy Baar Topinka, a Republican who unsuccessfully challenged Blagojevich for the governor's job in 2006, said today in an interview with WMAQ-TV in Chicago.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan earlier today on NBC's "Meet the Press" program said Blagojevich may announce tomorrow that he's resigning or taking a temporary leave from office.
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