For Immediate Release Friday, January 9, 2009
Calls Blagojevich Impeachment Premature and Irresponsible
Former Congressman Bob Barr issued a statement today criticizing the Illinois House of Representatives for its resolution impeaching Governor Rod Blagojevich, calling such a move ‘premature’ and ‘irresponsible.’
‘To impeach a duly-elected governor against who there has been no formal charges whatsoever brought, much less a finding of guilt, is premature and highly irresponsible,” said Barr, a former federal prosecutor and a Clinton impeachment manager during his service as a member of the United States House of Representatives in 1998-1999.
“To jump to the conclusion that a governor is guilty of impeachable offenses based on nothing more than preliminary, government-developed evidence for which there has been no opportunity to rebut or refute, is to render meaningless any notion of due process, equal protection of the law, or presumption of innocence,” Barr concluded.
For further information please contact Andy MacPherson at 770-836-1776 or andy@bobbarr.org .
Barr, a former Member of Congress (1995-2003), also served previously as a US Attorney and with the Central Intelligence Agency. He was the Libertarian nominee for President in 2008.
