This quiet little lawsuit should blow the lid off any ideas of adding more casinos or slot machines anywhere in Illinois -- for a either the capital bill or to make up budget revenue loss, misappropriation and/or overspending -- for at least as long as the Blagojevich administration is in control.
At the very least, an appeals court allowing a citizen to sue the governor emphasizes what we've said on Illinois Review for over a year now -- impeachment investigation should be initiated into whether the governor abuses his executive powers.
From today's Springfield Journal-Register:
The former head of the Illinois Gaming Board may sue the Blagojevich administration for retaliating against her when she refused to cooperate with allegedly illegal activities, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Jeannette Tamayo filed a federal lawsuit in 2006 against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, two top aides, the Gaming Board and its parent agency, the Department of Revenue. But a federal court dismissed the suit in September 2007, ruling Tamayo had not offered enough evidence or followed proper procedures.
Tuesday’s decision, reversing most of the lower court’s opinion, came from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
The lawsuit claimed Tamayo resisted Blagojevich, his then-chief of staff Alonzo Monk and Revenue Director Brian Hamer when they tried to take control of Gaming Board operations and administrative hearings, interfere with casino bidding processes, demanded an end to investigations of certain casinos, and sought confidential financial information on other casinos.
