CHICAGO — Illinois lawmakers began moving toward rescinding Gov. Rod Blagojevich's power to name a new U.S. senator after federal authorities accused him Tuesday of trying to auction off President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat.

It was one of several schemes to sell influence to enrich himself and his wife, according to a criminal complaint served by FBI agents who arrested the second-term Democrat at his home in Chicago early in the morning.

He was released on bond several hours later and will remain as governor unless he voluntarily steps down or is impeached in the House and convicted in the Senate.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, also a Democrat but Blagojevich's archrival, suggested there may be a two-pronged legislative response: impeachment and a new law to fill Senate vacancies by special election instead of gubernatorial appointment.

Blagojevich was swept into office six years ago on a reform platform. He succeeded Gov. George Ryan, a Republican who was subsequently convicted and sent to prison for trading state business for contributions and favors when he was secretary of state.

Talk of a federal investigation of Blagojevich was already swirling when he won re-election in 2006. Three of Illinois' last seven governors have gone to prison.

Blagojevich, who turns 52 today, is charged under federal law with conspiring to deprive the state's citizens of his "honest services" and "corruptly" soliciting something of value, crimes that carry a term of up to 10 years if he is convicted.

The government's case rests largely on obscenity-laced tapes made with wiretaps and bugs. It includes allegations that he tried to use the state's purse strings to force a $50,000 political donation from a Chicago children's hospital, and to pressure the Chicago Tribune to fire editorial writers who had been critical of his administration.

"This conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave," said U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, the Chicago-based prosecutor who sent Ryan to prison less than two years ago.

Fitzgerald also was the special prosecutor who won a perjury conviction against Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, in connection with the outing of a CIA agent from within the Bush administation.

An FBI affidavit supporting the complaint does not implicate Obama, a Chicago Democrat who has ties to Blagojevich but kept him at arm's length during the presidential campaign. Fitzgerald cautioned against drawing inferences against a variety of people mentioned directly or indirectly in the documents.

At one point on the wiretaps, those documents say, Blagojevich complained of Obama's failure to cut a deal with him over the vacant Senate seat, and refers to him by a common vulgarity.

Quoting from tapes at a news conference here, Fitzgerald repeatedly substituted the words "bleep" or "bleeping."

Federal officials said Blagojevich's day began with a phone call from the FBI just after 6 a.m., informing him that two agents were waiting at his front door to take him into custody. His first reaction, according to Robert Grant, the FBI's Chicago chief, was, "Is this a joke?"

With Blagojevich's wife awake but his two young daughters still asleep, the governor dressed and was arrested. The story broke within two hours.

By Tuesday afternoon, he stood in a federal courtroom, clad in a blue-and-black track suit and surrounded by U.S. marshals. He listened to a judge explain the charges and signed a recognizance bond.

"Good morning," he said to U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan. He answered "yes" to her question of whether he had a passport (which he must turn in within 24 hours as a condition of bond). He smiled and chatted with attorneys, but otherwise said nothing in the brief hearing.

He was driven from the court's secure basement with his state police security detail.

His preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 14, along with that of his chief of staff, John Harris, who was named on similar charges and appeared in court at the same time.

But the issues facing Illinois aren't likely to wait that long. Top Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday expressed fear that Blagojevich will go ahead and appoint a senator as he awaits trial. Court documents show that Blagojevich recently discussed appointing himself.

"I believe in the rights of individuals to due process, but I also believe action must be taken to avoid certain functions of state government from being irrevocably tarnished by Gov. Blagojevich's continued exercise of power,'' Speaker Madigan said in a prepared statement.

He announced a special House session Monday to push for a change in state law to have a senator chosen by a special election.

Madigan and others also said they also will discuss impeachment proceedings. Impeachment requires a majority vote of the House; conviction needs a two-third vote in the Senate. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats but have been at odds with Blagojevich over financial and separation-of-power issues.

The allegations against Blagojevich, laid out in the 76-page affidavit, paint a picture of a governor who not only did not refrain from corrupt activities in light of his predecessor's imprisonment, but took the corruption further.

Fitzgerald called it "a political corruption crime spree."

The documents allege:

— Blagojevich viewed the vacant Senate seat as a "golden'' commodity from which he could profit. He allegedly discussed with Harris and others the possibility that Obama's incoming administration would give him an ambassadorship, or arrange for him or his wife to get a high-paying foundation directorship in exchange for picking someone Obama wanted for the Senate seat.

"(It's) a (bleeping) valuable thing, you just don't give it away for nothing,'' Blagojevich said on tape, according to the court documents.

Fitzgerald said: "Blagojevich put a 'for sale' sign on the naming of a United States senator."

— Later, according to wiretaps outlined in the documents, Blagojevich allegedly complained about the lack of response from the Obama team, saying: "They're not willing to give me anything except appreciation. (Bleep) them.'' He then allegedly discussed with others the prospect of appointing himself as a means of putting himself out of reach of the Legislature, where some members were talking of impeaching him for incompetence.

— Blagojevich allegedly tried to get the Chicago Tribune to fire editorial writers who had criticized him in print, in exchange for state help with the financing or sale of Wrigley Field, in Chicago, which the Tribune's parent company owns.

"Blagojevich directed John Harris (his chief of staff and co-defendant) to inform Tribune owner ... that state of Illinois financial assistance for the Tribune Co.'s sale of Wrigley Field would not be forthcoming unless members of the Chicago Tribune's editorial board were fired,'' the affidavit says. The writers were not fired.

— The affidavit also alleges that Blagojevich bluntly told others he expected to receive a $50,000 political donation from Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago in exchange for an $8 million state funding package — and that when the donation wasn't forthcoming, he considered cutting off the money.

In court documents, prosecutors say they recorded Blagojevich scheming to get money in return for signing a bill that renews an assessment against large casinos' revenue to benefit the state's horse racing industry. At one point, Blagojevich allegedly talked with an unnamed lobbyist about holding a fundraiser downstate in return for his signature.

That bill, which was passed by both houses and awaits the governor's signature, was widely championed by State Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Collinsville, who said it would help keep jobs at Fairmount Park in Collinsville.

In a two-sentence statement, Hoffman, Blagojevich's closest ally in the Legislature, said: "Like all Illinoisans, I am saddened by today's news. I have no knowledge concerning the allegations and for any comment you should contact the governor's office directly."

Blagojevich worked his way up through Chicago politics with the help of his father-in-law, Dick Mell, a powerful alderman. He is a lawyer who worked as an assistant state's attorney and served in the General Assembly and U.S. House before getting elected governor.

kmcdermott@post-dispatch.com

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