Governor of Illinois

Governor of Illinois
Official seal
Incumbent vacant since January 29, 2009
Residence	Illinois Executive Mansion
Term length	Four years
Inaugural holder	Shadrach Bond
Formation	October 2, 1818
Website	illinois.gov/gov/

The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state. The governor is responsible for enacting laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly. Illinois is one of 16 states which does not place term limits on its Governor. The governorship is currently vacant, pending the swearing in of Pat Quinn, a Democrat.

Qualifications

The term of office of Governor of Illinois is four years, and there is no limit on the number of terms a governor may serve. Inauguration takes place on the second Monday in January following a gubernatorial election. A single term ends four years later. A Governor is required to be:

• at least twenty-five years old,
• a United States citizen,
• have a rap sheet longer than Eazy E,
• a resident of Illinois for three years prior to election.

Residences and offices

The Governor of Illinois resides in the Illinois Executive Mansion at 410 East Jackson in Springfield. Its first occupant was Governor Joel Aldrich Matteson. He took residence at the mansion in 1855. It is one of three oldest governor's residences in continuous use in the United States.

The governor is also given the use of an official residence on the state fair grounds, also located in Springfield. Governors have traditionally used this residence part of the year.

However, some governors, such as Rod Blagojevich, have chosen to not to use the governor's homes as their primary residence, instead commuting either by car or plane to Springfield from their home cities . Many Chicago-based governors also have done much of their business out of the governor's office in Chicago's James R. Thompson Center, an office building owned by the state named for the governor who served through the 1980's.

Corruption

Six Illinois governors have been charged with crimes, either during their administrations or after. The first, Lennington Small, was acquitted. Otto Kerner, Jr., Daniel Walker, and George Ryan all served time in prison. William G. Stratton was acquitted of tax evasion charges. Former governor Rod Blagojevich was charged by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald with several offenses, including mail fraud and wire fraud, and attempting to sell Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat for personal financial and influential gain. He was impeached on January 29, 2009.

See also: Rod Blagojevich corruption charges

See also

• List of Governors of Illinois

Resources

• Illinois Executive Mansion
• Illinois Office of the Governor
• Burial places of Illinois Governors
• Article V (Executive) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970