Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich arrested this morning on corruption charges

Following up on Ken's post earlier this morning... this is good news. Corrupt Democrats must be kicked out of our party and brought to justice:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris were arrested today by FBI agents on federal corruption charges.

Blagojevich and Harris were accused of a wide-ranging criminal conspiracy that included Blagojevich conspiring to sell or trade the Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama in exchange for financial benefits for the governor and his wife. The governor was also accused of obtaining campaign contributions in exchange for other official actions.

Blagojevich was taken into federal custody at his North Side home this morning. A Blagojevich spokesman said he was unaware of the development. "Haven't heard anything -- you are first to call," Lucio Guerrero said in an e-mail.

If Blagojevich wants to plead not guilty to the charges, that's his right, but the evidence already gathered against him looks pretty bad (PDF).

(The case, by the way, is being prosecuted by Patrick Fitzgerald, the same guy who nailed Scooter Libby for obstruction of justice in Plamegate. The case is United States of America v. Rod R. Blagojevich and John Harris.)

Blagojevich should spare his family, his friends, and the Illinois Democratic Party any further embarrassment by resigning from office now.

This year has already seen the end of the careers of Kwame Kilpatrick and William Jefferson, people who claimed to share the ideals of the Democratic Party, but in reality only cared about themselves.

It's high time that Blagojevich joined them and exited public life.

UPDATE: Matt Stoller adds:

One little noticed part of the corruption problems encompassing Democrats like Rod Blagojevich in Illinois and William Jefferson in Louisiana is that they come from the more conservative/DLC/New Democratic wing of the party. Blago, when he was in the House, was the only Illinois Democrat to vote for the war, and as Governor pursued culture war issues like cracking down on violent video games. Jefferson was one of the few CBC members to vote for the war in Iraq, and has a well-trod history of voting against corporate regulations.

I'll echo Ken's comment and say good riddance.