King Rod Blagojevich and his henchman continue on their mass power play to usurp the powers of the Legislative branch, primarily through lawsuits brought against the various officers of the Illinois House and Senate.

King Rod's effort to force the House to take action on his veto of the budget, and the many programs being vetted by his political enemies, was recently quashed by the third leg of the Illinois government as groundless, with the implication in the judge's ruling that it was nothing more than political gamesmanship and in the worst possible interests of the people of Illinois.

King Rod's most heinous actions over this past year, though, involve the series of special session calls made by King Rod for his pet projects during the emergency session of the General Assembly attempting to iron out the budget, to prevent the state from being shut down.

King Rod does have the authority to call special sessions of the either the House or the Senate, as called for in Article IV, Section 5(b) which says: "The Governor may convene the General Assembly or the Senate alone in special session by a proclamation stating the purpose of the session; and only business encompassed by such purpose, together with any impeachments or confirmation of appointments shall be transacted."

However, the House and Senate were both already in session, working on the single most important piece of legislation they have to deal with on an annual basis.

Madigan refused to break off the budgeting process for King Rod's egomaniacal efforts to pervert the process that keeps the state running. Good for you, Mr. Speaker.

However, I think Speaker Madigan did not go far enough in his response to King Rod in Sangamon County Court on Monday, in which he said "Though his means may be the legal mechanism of a lawsuit, his ends traverse into a dark realm that ultimately seeks to replace the rule of law with rule by a single man."

No, Madigan needs to enforce the Constitution, and force Senate President Emil Jones into action to impeach King Rod, under Article V, Section 21. That little Article says "Officers of the Executive Branch shall be paid salaries established by law and shall receive no other compensation for their services."

The tax code of the United States, as well as Illinois, defines transportation provided by your employer for you to commute to and from work as taxable compensation.

Speaker Madigan, I call for you to both cut off funding for the travel of the Governor and his appointed officers to Springfield from Chicago, and to begin hearings in the House into the actions of the Governor ignoring this section of the Constitution. Springfield is the Capitol, the seat of our state's government, not Chicago.

And while you're at it, get back the tens of millions of dollars wasted by King Rod in his arrogant power plays. We need that money for the schools, roads, and health care programs.