Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his coiffure appointed former Illinois attorney general, Roland Burris, to fill the Illinois Senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama. Illinois’s Secretary of State said he would not certify the appointment. Harry Reid et al. threatened (for a few days anyway) to not seat Mr. Burris.  Oh, the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth, along with the legal challenges. Dear friends, this series of events and bottomless Bermuda Triangle are what we get when there are loopholes. The governor, under cloud though he may be, is still the governor. He has the authority to appoint a replacement. If that replacement is qualified, the Secretary of State must certify. The U.S. Senate must then seat those who are certified by their states for Senate seats.Â
You have here your basic series of events born of loopholes that no one could anticipate and which are not closed easily. When there are such loopholes, we depend on moral restraint, sweet ethics, to stop us from taking advantage of an unfortunate situation. Without that restraint, we unleash forces that undermine stability, the rule of law, and orderly governmental transitions. Live by the loopholes, die by the loopholes. Hedge funds swirled in a massive regulatory no-mans land. Live by that loophole, and we now die by that loophole (or at least lose a great deal of money there). Blago failed to exercise the moral restraint a governor under a cloud should have. Mr. Burris might have refused the appointment with a simple, “Not under this cloud.” But, neither Mr. Burris’s seizing the moment nor the governor’s chutzpah is grounds for the Secretary of State, the Senate, or any other officials to toss legalities to the wind. The Secretary of State had previously certified the governor’s order for a special election to fill the House seat vacated by Mr. Rahm Emanuel. No hue and cry on that one. And the legislature could have opted for that closure on this loophole with a special election for the U.S. Senate seat. But, the legislators relied on moral restraint being exercised by someone who is under a cloud of suspicion of untoward and perhaps felonious behavior. Bad move that resulted in a worse move by that governor, but, it is checkmate. Mr. Burris wins by a loophole. Â