Schakowsky says governor needs to quit

CHICAGO, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Illinois will remain without leadership until scandal-tainted Gov. Rod Blagojevich resigns or is impeached, says U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.

Blagojevich became incapable of governing the state once federal authorities accused him of allegedly trying to profit from his power to appoint a successor to the U.S. Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama, Schakowsky said Tuesday on the CBS "Early Show."

While Blagojevich has said he will not resign and has committed no crime or wrongdoing, Schakowsky said the governor may not be thinking clearly.

"The charges that were leveled against him are so fantastical, where he was imagining himself being appointed secretary of Health and Human Services or an ambassadorship," Schakowsky said. "And so, you know, it seems like the grip on reality -- political reality, anyway -- is pretty slim."

Schakowsky has been mentioned as one of Obama's choices to replace him in the Senate. Under current law, only the sitting governor has the power to make that appointment.