Impeachment

South Carolina’s law on impeachment states that the Governor can be impeached on charges of “serious crime or serious misconduct.” The house subcommittee voted not to recommend the impeachment of Governor Mark Sanford. They felt the Governor’s crimes of a secret trip to Argentina and an extramarital affair did not fit the standard of “serious crime or serious misconduct.” Reading this article I instantly thought of two comparisons: first President Bill Clinton and secondly Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The laws of impeachment for the President of the United States are different than ones for a state’s governor, yet the law is almost as vague. The U.S. Constitution states “the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States” can only be impeached and removed for “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” Basically the legislature decides what is a high crime or misdemeanor. I found the charges between Sanford and Clinton similar. They were both moral based “crimes” but Clinton took it one step further and lied under oath. If Clinton had not lied under oath he probably wouldn’t have been impeached. On the other hand Governor Rod Blagojevich’s crimes were more of a serious crime/serious misconduct behavior. The Illinois House voted to impeach the governor for what it called “abuse of power” by engaging in “a plot to obtain a personal benefit in exchange for his appointment to fill the vacant seat in the United States Senate.” He also was charged with plotting to use state funds to help a Tribune company only if they fired certain members who had been critical of him. (MSNBC) He abused his power and other people were affected by what he did. In the case of Clinton and Sanford it was more a personal problem than a state or country affected problem. Impeachment is a process that removes leaders deemed not worthy to run the state or country anymore. It helps the American people keep corrupt or immoral leaders out of office.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/us/10sanford.html?ref=us
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28582066/