The whole House was here, making history

The House of Representatives was on campus today. All 118 of them, as they were sworn in on the first day of the new General Assembly. What a privilege for UIS to be in the capital city and host events like this. Watch some video here. More photos are available here from the UIS web site. It's notable that Governor Blagojevich was impeached for a second time after the members were sworn in. Thirty years from now, people will be wondering why the House took this vote for the second time and why they did it at UIS instead of in their own chamber in the state Capitol. I plan to chronicle that.

Observing the impeachment

The news about our governor's impeachment today probably sounds terrible to the rest of the country. But if you live in Springfield, there is a strange feeling of great relief that it's finally happened. At UIS, we have a keen eye on state government. Professsor Kent Redfield and others have been interviewed dozens if not hundreds of times around the country in recent weeks. Illinois Issues has an award-winning blog with a unique up-to-date perspective, and WUIS public radio covers everything in-depth. Being in the state capital, for UIS, is another way of saying "location, location, location" makes all the difference to people seeking accurate information.

Evidence of our expertise: we're widely quoted

It's been an historic week for Illinois politics and government, reaching "a truly new low," according to U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.

Located in the state capital, UIS has a lot of expertise on this topic. Here are a few ways we've been in the news:

Dr. Kent Redfield in the NY Times: "Sad commentary that we re-elected him"'
Charlie Wheeler in Chicago Tribune: "Most incompetent governor"
Dr. Redfield in Huffington Post: About Quinn and Blagojevich
Dr. Christopher Mooney to AP: "We're making this up as we go along"
For more quotes from around the country, and the latest, go to UIS in the News and pay special attention to "Previous Posts" on the right-hand side.
Also see Illinois Issues' blog. The magazine is published by UIS.

Arrested

The state is abuzz today with the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. It's only the latest thing that he tried to sell the U.S. Senate seat just vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Illinois Issues columnist Charlie Wheeler said months ago he expected the governor to be indicted, because an investigation has been ongoing for years. So inside Illinois, it was no great surprise, except that it happened today. Many people on our campus specialize in studying Illinois politics -- and it's shocking even for us to hear U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald call Blago's corruption "a truly new low" in Illinois. This is absolutely stunning. As Rich Miller said in his Capitol Fax column today, what kind of nutball would do this?