Outgoing Chicago Dem Is Lone Nay in Blago Vote

The one nay vote in today’s Illinois House impeachment of Rod Blagojevich was from Chicago Democrat Milton Patterson, the Chicago Tribune reports. Patterson said he wasn’t defending the disgraced governor. “I went by my own gut feeling,” he said. The lone “present” vote belonged to Elga Jefferies, “torn between political and personal.” Neither is returning to the House in the new session, Talking Points Memo notes.

“I think the committee did an excellent job in the report,” Patterson said of the recommendation that Blagojevich be impeached. “It was just there was not enough for me to feel comfortable with a decision to do that. I did not feel comfortable voting based upon what I heard and read, simple as that.” (More Rod Blagojevich stories.)