You can’t beat those pols from Illinois. Faced with the most vivid display of lawlessness and base corruption in recent memory, they seek a solution that shows no regard for legality. The state’s Attorney General (who may or may not have been one of the enumerated Senate Candidates in the criminal complaint) is heading to court to declare Blago “unfit” and get him removed immediately, without impeachment proceedings. Because impeachment takes so long — and will, by the way, increase calls in the interim for a special election (rather than appointment by Blago’s eventual Democratic successor) to fill the empty Senate seat. So an end-around to get rid of the lawbreaker — the “perfect” Illinois solution.

The Democrats in Washington aren’t much better. When the scandal first broke, Sen. Dick Durbin was quick to call for a special election. Good move there. But when Harry Reid pushed for appointment ( who wants to risk losing the seat to the Republicans after all), Durbin began back-pedaling. The Washington Post’s “Fix” (aptly titled to opine on this topic) sums up:

Politics is about perception and, right now, Democrats can’t risk being seen as trying to subvert the democratic process. Yes, the law may say that the governor — whoever that might be — gets to appoint the next senator but just a few days ago leading Democrats were ready to change the law to allow for a special election. The initial support for a special election from the likes of Durbin, [state House Speaker] Mike Madigan and [state senate President Emil] Jones complicates the argument that a special is now no longer the best way to replace Obama. Political junkies the world round are rooting for a special election. And given the recent developments, they might just get it.

So we will see whether the maneuver to oust Blago without benefit of the impeachment proceeding, followed by the ploy to avoid a special election, will deliver the seat to some Democrat willing to take a tainted seat (“infected” might be a better term) under such bizarre circumstances. And how can we be sure the recipient then isn’t the lucky winner of the latest pay-to-play scheme?

We can add Harry Reid and Dick Durbin then to the list of participants in the “Who comes out looking bad?” Blago Sweepstakes. When coupled with Charlie Rangel’s misfortunes and the original Blago scandal (which may or may not touch members of the Obama transition team), we are off to a flying start with one-party rule in Washington. And if we are knee- deep in ethical goo, we can in part blame the media. They studiously ignored any exploration of Obama’s Chicago roots during the campaign. We’ll now learn more about it than anyone ever imagined.