http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix ... _reid.html
The Fix
By Chris Cillizza
IL-Sen: Burris Backtracks, Ethics Committee Investigates
Sen. Roland Burris's (D-Ill.) political fate appeared to be in real jeopardy late today as he continued to acknowledge gaps in his testimony to a state House panel investigating former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate Democrats beginning a preliminary ethics inquiry into his conduct.
Burris today said he had tried to raise money for the embattled Blagojevich in the run-up to his appointment by the governor to the Senate seat vacated by President Obama -- the latest in a series of revelations that raised serious questions about whether he had been entirely truthful in his sworn testimony before an Illinois state House committee weighing whether to impeach Blagojevich for allegations that he sought to sell the Senate seat.
Originally Burris said he had contact with only one Blagojevich associate -- Lon Monk -- but over the weekend he acknowledged that he had had several conversations with the governor's brother, who inquired about the possibility of Burris raising money for Blagojevich.
The string of revelations has prompted Senate Democrats to scramble to stop the bleeding in a situation that has already caused the party -- both in the state and nationally -- considerable embarrassment.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's (Nev.) office released a statement late this afternoon, offering tepid -- at best -- support for Burris. "Senator Reid supports Senator Burris's decision to cooperate with all appropriate officials who may review this matter, including state agencies and the Senate Ethics Committee," said Reid senior communications adviser Jim Manley.
The ethics committee confirmed tonight it has begun an investigation into Burris but declined to spell out which aspects of the case are being reviewed. Natalie Ravitz, communications director for California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Ethics committee, said Tuesday night that "whenever allegations of improper conduct are brought to the attention of the Senate Ethics Committee, we open a preliminary inquiry."
While Democrats sought publicly to put a brave face on the allegations that Burris may have perjured himself, privately Democratic strategists fumed about the continuing damage Blagojevich and Burris were doing to the party.
One senior party operative who closely tracks Senate races called the Illinois situation "political insanity", adding: "The best thing Burris can do for himself right now is stop talking, figure out what else hasn't been disclosed, dump it all in one shot and then pray."
The next step for Burris politically remains unclear. He has been purposefully vague about whether or not he will seek a full term in 2010 but this incident is sure to convince neutral party observers that if Burris does decide to make a bid that a serious primary challenge is necessary and inevitable.
"The revelation gives everyone including the White House a free pass -- a reason not to be for Burris, a reason to run against a sitting Democrat," said one veteran Illinois Democrat. The source added that "because he has nothing to lose and an ego the size of a mausoleum" its almost certain that unless Burris' health fails him he will run for a full term.
But, it's equally certain that if Burris stays in the race, state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias will challenge him. Last week Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) praised Giannoulias as a candidate and the two are traveling outside the country together during this week's congressional recess.
---
Washington Post Staff Writers Paul Kane and Peter Slevin contributed to this story.
"IL-Sen: Burris Backtracks, Ethics Committee Investigat
Moderator: Super Moderators
Re: "IL-Sen: Burris Backtracks, Ethics Committee Invest
That's approximately what Washington Post columnist Colby King said in a radio commentary this morning--reasoning that Patrick Fitzgerald probably has him on tape already.racehorse wrote: One senior party operative who closely tracks Senate races called the Illinois situation "political insanity", adding: "The best thing Burris can do for himself right now is stop talking, figure out what else hasn't been disclosed, dump it all in one shot and then pray."
"because he has nothing to lose and an ego the size of a mausoleum" its almost certain that unless Burris' health fails him he will run for a full term.
He certainly does have an ego the size of a mausoleum--which he has already had built for himself, inscribed with his accomplishments. Give me a break. The Post has called for him to resign in an editorial.
Anchors Aweigh
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/ ... _2010.html
Burris Will Not Resign, Will Not Run in 2010
Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) meets with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) today to attempt quell the storm surrounding his appointment to the Senate seat left empty by Barack Obama.
Lynn Sweet has the scoop: "Burris will also be sending, directly or indirectly (maybe this is it) two messages: he will not resign in the wake of the controversy surrounding his appointment by the ousted Gov. Blagojevich and he will not run for the seat in 2010. Burris has finally realized that not seeking election next year is the least price he will pay."
Update: Ben Smith reports a spokesman denies Burris has agreed not to seek re-election.
February 24, 2009
Burris Will Not Resign, Will Not Run in 2010
Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) meets with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) today to attempt quell the storm surrounding his appointment to the Senate seat left empty by Barack Obama.
Lynn Sweet has the scoop: "Burris will also be sending, directly or indirectly (maybe this is it) two messages: he will not resign in the wake of the controversy surrounding his appointment by the ousted Gov. Blagojevich and he will not run for the seat in 2010. Burris has finally realized that not seeking election next year is the least price he will pay."
Update: Ben Smith reports a spokesman denies Burris has agreed not to seek re-election.
February 24, 2009
racehorse
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/us/po ... nted=print
March 2, 2009
A Line Forms to Succeed Burris
By MONICA DAVEY
CHICAGO — As Roland W. Burris, the junior senator from Illinois, took his first turn presiding over the Senate last week, hired staff members to fill his Washington office and announced co-sponsorship of a measure commemorating the role of slaves in building the Capitol, politicians back home were plotting who might replace him.
Gov. Patrick J. Quinn said he would give Mr. Burris, a fellow Democrat, two weeks to quit before urging Illinois lawmakers to consider a special election that could, in essence, remove the senator from the seat he was appointed to after Barack Obama was elected president. And as the prestigious Union League Club of Chicago joined a chorus last week calling on Mr. Burris to resign, the state’s attorney general, Lisa Madigan, also a Democrat, issued an opinion that such an election could pass legal muster.
Amid all of it, Mr. Burris — whose appointment by Mr. Quinn’s predecessor, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, has drawn criticism at nearly every turn — plowed right along. He refused to resign, issued news releases about his Senate doings and seemed not to notice the line that was swiftly forming behind him.
In Chicago, more than half a dozen names were quickly gaining steam as possible candidates in a Senate race in 2010, if not sooner.
The would-be contenders include Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer, who plays basketball with Mr. Obama. Mr. Giannoulias traveled overseas last month with Illinois’s senior senator, Richard J. Durbin, and he is already lining up support.
Other potential candidates are Representatives Mark Steven Kirk and Peter Roskam, Republicans from the Chicago suburbs who might benefit from the woes of the state’s Democrats. And, according to “a shocker” revealed in a Chicago Sun-Times gossip column late last week, yet another possible contender is William Daley, the brother of this city’s mayor (and, perhaps less significantly around here, the commerce secretary in the Clinton administration).
Still, for all the jockeying, rarely has a political race been so packed with peculiar uncertainties that would complicate any campaign, any fund-raising effort, any hope of a strategy at all. The muddle of moving circumstances and political turmoil that has overwhelmed this state since Mr. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges in December is now reaching into the elections ahead as well.
No one even knows when the Senate election will occur — in 2010, as planned, or in the coming weeks or months in a special election, seen as unlikely but conceivable.
“The landscape on this all seems to change about every 56 hours,” Mr. Kirk said Friday night as he acknowledged that he was contemplating a run for the Senate.
“At this point, the political landscape in Illinois is a lot like the Chicago weather,” he said. “If you don’t like what you see, wait a bit.”
Aides to other politicians considering runs complained that they must incessantly track news Web sites, blogs and cable television programs to keep up with what one described as the “ever-shifting grounds” under the next Senate race.
The Democratic leaders who control the legislature have resisted holding an early election to fill the Senate seat, and the issue has largely broken along party lines. A special election would open the possibility that a Republican might win the seat. And, Democratic leaders say, it could cost $50 million and would surely be contested in court by Mr. Burris, who expects to complete what is left of Mr. Obama’s six-year Senate term.
But Mr. Quinn’s suggestion that he might press for a special election, along with the legal opinion by Ms. Madigan (mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in 2010) seeming to clear the way, has left some wondering whether an early election may yet be possible.
A spokesman for the State House speaker, Michael J. Madigan, who leads the state Democratic Party and is Ms. Madigan’s father, said only that the question of a special election before the primary scheduled for next February was “under review.”
“Everybody is sort of frozen right now, waiting to see what happens,” said State Representative Jack D. Franks, a Democrat.
And there are other unusual moving parts to this race that political advisers say they are quietly trying to assess: How might new details of the federal criminal case against Mr. Blagojevich, who is accused, in part, of trying to sell Mr. Obama’s Senate seat, taint other political candidates here? Who else might be implicated in the phone calls by Mr. Blagojevich that the authorities secretly recorded? How might revelations from a trial of Mr. Blagojevich sway voters?
“Don’t forget: there’s a good chance that the former governor is going to go to trial next summer or next fall, and the odds are that’s not too good for the Democrats,” said State Representative Tom Cross, the Republican leader in the House, who is also a possible Senate candidate. “There’s going to be a whole lot of Democrats hoping that their governor pleads guilty so this trial doesn’t happen.”
Mr. Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office, has proclaimed his innocence to all the accusations.
Even without a trial, Mr. Blagojevich’s cloud may have wiped from the field some of the politicians long considered most likely to run for the Senate.
Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who once spoke openly of his interest in the seat, is no longer mentioned much by political analysts. Documents in Mr. Blagojevich’s arrest suggested that supporters of Mr. Jackson, a Democrat, offered to raise campaign money for Mr. Blagojevich in exchange for the governor’s appointing him to the Senate. Mr. Jackson has said he never authorized supporters to make such offers.
For his part, Mr. Burris, who is facing a preliminary investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee over his evolving accounts of the events that led up to his appointment, has made “absolutely no decision” about whether to run in 2010, his spokesman said. Nonetheless, prominent Democrats — including the Senate majority whip, Mr. Durbin, and the House majority whip, Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, who is the highest-ranking African-American on Capitol Hill — have suggested that he not.
The debate over Mr. Burris’s future is complicated by matters of race. Mr. Burris, currently the only black United States senator, became the first African-American elected to statewide office here in 1978 when he won the race for state comptroller. This weekend, his supporters organized a gathering at a mostly black church on the South Side of Chicago — a sign, his advocates said, of his continuing support among blacks in this city, a powerful voting bloc.
In some state offices around Chicago, all the questions over Mr. Blagojevich’s doings, Mr. Burris’s appointment and now the Senate race — “a virtual game of musical chairs” in the words of one political analyst — have become overwhelming.
“We’re exasperated and exhausted from what’s gone on in the last three months,” said Daniel W. Hynes, the Illinois comptroller, a Democrat who ran for the Senate in 2004. “Most everybody has this attitude that we better just do these jobs, and the politics can wait.
“There’s also a pragmatic element. Everything is so fluid and in flux you can’t make an informed decision.”
March 2, 2009
A Line Forms to Succeed Burris
By MONICA DAVEY
CHICAGO — As Roland W. Burris, the junior senator from Illinois, took his first turn presiding over the Senate last week, hired staff members to fill his Washington office and announced co-sponsorship of a measure commemorating the role of slaves in building the Capitol, politicians back home were plotting who might replace him.
Gov. Patrick J. Quinn said he would give Mr. Burris, a fellow Democrat, two weeks to quit before urging Illinois lawmakers to consider a special election that could, in essence, remove the senator from the seat he was appointed to after Barack Obama was elected president. And as the prestigious Union League Club of Chicago joined a chorus last week calling on Mr. Burris to resign, the state’s attorney general, Lisa Madigan, also a Democrat, issued an opinion that such an election could pass legal muster.
Amid all of it, Mr. Burris — whose appointment by Mr. Quinn’s predecessor, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich, has drawn criticism at nearly every turn — plowed right along. He refused to resign, issued news releases about his Senate doings and seemed not to notice the line that was swiftly forming behind him.
In Chicago, more than half a dozen names were quickly gaining steam as possible candidates in a Senate race in 2010, if not sooner.
The would-be contenders include Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer, who plays basketball with Mr. Obama. Mr. Giannoulias traveled overseas last month with Illinois’s senior senator, Richard J. Durbin, and he is already lining up support.
Other potential candidates are Representatives Mark Steven Kirk and Peter Roskam, Republicans from the Chicago suburbs who might benefit from the woes of the state’s Democrats. And, according to “a shocker” revealed in a Chicago Sun-Times gossip column late last week, yet another possible contender is William Daley, the brother of this city’s mayor (and, perhaps less significantly around here, the commerce secretary in the Clinton administration).
Still, for all the jockeying, rarely has a political race been so packed with peculiar uncertainties that would complicate any campaign, any fund-raising effort, any hope of a strategy at all. The muddle of moving circumstances and political turmoil that has overwhelmed this state since Mr. Blagojevich was arrested on federal corruption charges in December is now reaching into the elections ahead as well.
No one even knows when the Senate election will occur — in 2010, as planned, or in the coming weeks or months in a special election, seen as unlikely but conceivable.
“The landscape on this all seems to change about every 56 hours,” Mr. Kirk said Friday night as he acknowledged that he was contemplating a run for the Senate.
“At this point, the political landscape in Illinois is a lot like the Chicago weather,” he said. “If you don’t like what you see, wait a bit.”
Aides to other politicians considering runs complained that they must incessantly track news Web sites, blogs and cable television programs to keep up with what one described as the “ever-shifting grounds” under the next Senate race.
The Democratic leaders who control the legislature have resisted holding an early election to fill the Senate seat, and the issue has largely broken along party lines. A special election would open the possibility that a Republican might win the seat. And, Democratic leaders say, it could cost $50 million and would surely be contested in court by Mr. Burris, who expects to complete what is left of Mr. Obama’s six-year Senate term.
But Mr. Quinn’s suggestion that he might press for a special election, along with the legal opinion by Ms. Madigan (mentioned as a possible candidate for governor in 2010) seeming to clear the way, has left some wondering whether an early election may yet be possible.
A spokesman for the State House speaker, Michael J. Madigan, who leads the state Democratic Party and is Ms. Madigan’s father, said only that the question of a special election before the primary scheduled for next February was “under review.”
“Everybody is sort of frozen right now, waiting to see what happens,” said State Representative Jack D. Franks, a Democrat.
And there are other unusual moving parts to this race that political advisers say they are quietly trying to assess: How might new details of the federal criminal case against Mr. Blagojevich, who is accused, in part, of trying to sell Mr. Obama’s Senate seat, taint other political candidates here? Who else might be implicated in the phone calls by Mr. Blagojevich that the authorities secretly recorded? How might revelations from a trial of Mr. Blagojevich sway voters?
“Don’t forget: there’s a good chance that the former governor is going to go to trial next summer or next fall, and the odds are that’s not too good for the Democrats,” said State Representative Tom Cross, the Republican leader in the House, who is also a possible Senate candidate. “There’s going to be a whole lot of Democrats hoping that their governor pleads guilty so this trial doesn’t happen.”
Mr. Blagojevich, who was impeached and removed from office, has proclaimed his innocence to all the accusations.
Even without a trial, Mr. Blagojevich’s cloud may have wiped from the field some of the politicians long considered most likely to run for the Senate.
Representative Jesse L. Jackson Jr., who once spoke openly of his interest in the seat, is no longer mentioned much by political analysts. Documents in Mr. Blagojevich’s arrest suggested that supporters of Mr. Jackson, a Democrat, offered to raise campaign money for Mr. Blagojevich in exchange for the governor’s appointing him to the Senate. Mr. Jackson has said he never authorized supporters to make such offers.
For his part, Mr. Burris, who is facing a preliminary investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee over his evolving accounts of the events that led up to his appointment, has made “absolutely no decision” about whether to run in 2010, his spokesman said. Nonetheless, prominent Democrats — including the Senate majority whip, Mr. Durbin, and the House majority whip, Representative James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, who is the highest-ranking African-American on Capitol Hill — have suggested that he not.
The debate over Mr. Burris’s future is complicated by matters of race. Mr. Burris, currently the only black United States senator, became the first African-American elected to statewide office here in 1978 when he won the race for state comptroller. This weekend, his supporters organized a gathering at a mostly black church on the South Side of Chicago — a sign, his advocates said, of his continuing support among blacks in this city, a powerful voting bloc.
In some state offices around Chicago, all the questions over Mr. Blagojevich’s doings, Mr. Burris’s appointment and now the Senate race — “a virtual game of musical chairs” in the words of one political analyst — have become overwhelming.
“We’re exasperated and exhausted from what’s gone on in the last three months,” said Daniel W. Hynes, the Illinois comptroller, a Democrat who ran for the Senate in 2004. “Most everybody has this attitude that we better just do these jobs, and the politics can wait.
“There’s also a pragmatic element. Everything is so fluid and in flux you can’t make an informed decision.”
racehorse
http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?d ... 0003078542
March 18, 2009 – 6:31 p.m.
Durbin Meets With Ethics Panel About Burris
By Bart Jansen, CQ Staff
Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin revealed Wednesday that he met with the Select Ethics Committee to discuss Sen. Roland W. Burris , but he refused to disclose what was discussed.
Durbin, D-Ill., also said he met last week with a local Illinois prosecutor, Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Schmidt, who is reviewing how Burris, D-Ill., was appointed to his seat by Democratic Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich .
The committee and prosecutor are reviewing Burris’ statements to a state Impeachment Committee in January and subsequent affidavits describing his contacts with Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to sell the appointment for campaign contributions or other political favors. Blagojevich was later removed from office.
Burris gave apparently conflicting statements in testimony and affidavits, but ultimately he described meeting with several of the governor’s confidants and trying to raise money for the governor before the appointment. But Burris and Blagojevich each denied wrongdoing.
The Ethics Committee is conducting a preliminary inquiry, which is akin to a grand jury investigation, before deciding whether to pursue a full investigation that could result in recommending punishment such as expulsion to the full Senate. The prosecutor is investigating the grounds for possible criminal charges such as perjury.
Durbin refused to disclose what he discussed at either meeting but said he hoped for a timely conclusion to the investigations.
“In both instances, I shared my recollection of events leading up to and following Sen. Burris’ appointment to the Senate,” Durbin said in a statement. “Sen. Burris deserves a fair and impartial investigation. The people of Illinois deserve to know the truth.”
Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., also reportedly met with the committee. But spokesmen for Reid and the committee refused to confirm who attended the meeting because it was confidential.
Burris has said he would cooperate with both investigations.
During a preliminary inquiry, the Ethics panel conducts interviews and can take sworn statements and serve subpoenas for information. There is no deadline for the committee to act, either by closing the inquiry, issuing a public or private letter of admonition, or moving on to a formal investigation.
“All I can tell you is that the committee is doing what it always does when it receives allegations of misconduct, which is to conduct a preliminary inquiry,” said Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer , D-Calif.
March 18, 2009 – 6:31 p.m.
Durbin Meets With Ethics Panel About Burris
By Bart Jansen, CQ Staff
Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin revealed Wednesday that he met with the Select Ethics Committee to discuss Sen. Roland W. Burris , but he refused to disclose what was discussed.
Durbin, D-Ill., also said he met last week with a local Illinois prosecutor, Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Schmidt, who is reviewing how Burris, D-Ill., was appointed to his seat by Democratic Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich .
The committee and prosecutor are reviewing Burris’ statements to a state Impeachment Committee in January and subsequent affidavits describing his contacts with Blagojevich, who was accused of trying to sell the appointment for campaign contributions or other political favors. Blagojevich was later removed from office.
Burris gave apparently conflicting statements in testimony and affidavits, but ultimately he described meeting with several of the governor’s confidants and trying to raise money for the governor before the appointment. But Burris and Blagojevich each denied wrongdoing.
The Ethics Committee is conducting a preliminary inquiry, which is akin to a grand jury investigation, before deciding whether to pursue a full investigation that could result in recommending punishment such as expulsion to the full Senate. The prosecutor is investigating the grounds for possible criminal charges such as perjury.
Durbin refused to disclose what he discussed at either meeting but said he hoped for a timely conclusion to the investigations.
“In both instances, I shared my recollection of events leading up to and following Sen. Burris’ appointment to the Senate,” Durbin said in a statement. “Sen. Burris deserves a fair and impartial investigation. The people of Illinois deserve to know the truth.”
Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., also reportedly met with the committee. But spokesmen for Reid and the committee refused to confirm who attended the meeting because it was confidential.
Burris has said he would cooperate with both investigations.
During a preliminary inquiry, the Ethics panel conducts interviews and can take sworn statements and serve subpoenas for information. There is no deadline for the committee to act, either by closing the inquiry, issuing a public or private letter of admonition, or moving on to a formal investigation.
“All I can tell you is that the committee is doing what it always does when it receives allegations of misconduct, which is to conduct a preliminary inquiry,” said Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer , D-Calif.
racehorse
http://www.politics1.com/
ILLINOIS. Embattled US Senator Roland Burris (D) has only raised $845 during 1Q-09 for his potential re-election bid in 2010. If he runs for a full term, Burris will be facing off in a primary against State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and possibly others. By contrast, Giannoulias raised more than $1.1 million in his first four weeks since entering the race.
ILLINOIS. Embattled US Senator Roland Burris (D) has only raised $845 during 1Q-09 for his potential re-election bid in 2010. If he runs for a full term, Burris will be facing off in a primary against State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and possibly others. By contrast, Giannoulias raised more than $1.1 million in his first four weeks since entering the race.
racehorse
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/ ... _gone.html
Most Still Want Burris Gone
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows 62% of Illinois voters say Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) should resign while just 24% believe Burris should remain in the Senate.
In addition, 54% say they will definitely vote against Burris if he chooses to run for a full six-year term in the Senate in 2010. Only four percent 4% say they will definitely vote for him and 39% say it depends upon who he is running against.
It's probably a good thing Burris isn't spending too much time fundraising.
April 19, 2009
Most Still Want Burris Gone
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows 62% of Illinois voters say Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) should resign while just 24% believe Burris should remain in the Senate.
In addition, 54% say they will definitely vote against Burris if he chooses to run for a full six-year term in the Senate in 2010. Only four percent 4% say they will definitely vote for him and 39% say it depends upon who he is running against.
It's probably a good thing Burris isn't spending too much time fundraising.
April 19, 2009
racehorse
Yes, but the shocking thing, despite these poll numbers, is the extent to which the people of Illinois have already accepted Burris's position as Senator (pro-temp Senator) for Illinois. Decades ago, such a situation never would have occurred, and if it had, it would not have been tolerated for a week.
Everywhere I see signs that Amerika is finished, done, exhausted. Stick-a-fork-in-it-because-it's-done. Sorry, folks, but that is the truth...
Everywhere I see signs that Amerika is finished, done, exhausted. Stick-a-fork-in-it-because-it's-done. Sorry, folks, but that is the truth...
"Fuggedah about it, Jake --- it's Chinatown!"
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/ ... 44662.aspx
2009/2010: Burris in more hot water?
Posted: Wednesday, May 27, 2009
9:15 AM
by Mark Murray
ILLINOIS: Here's the transcript of the wiretap ( http://thehill.com/images/stories/news/ ... script.pdf ) between Sen. Roland Burris and Rob Blagojevich, the ousted former Illinois governor's brother. Burris is on tape suggesting he might arrange a fundraiser for Blagojevich before the end of the year, discusses trying to do it through his law firm under someone else's name so that he's not implicated if it ever gets out and explicitly expresses interest in replacing Obama as senator.
"In the months before his appointment to the Senate, Roland Burris (D-Ill.) promised to issue a $1,500 check to then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign, a conversation captured on FBI wiretaps according to an attorney for the Illinois Senator," Roll Call writes.
2009/2010: Burris in more hot water?
Posted: Wednesday, May 27, 2009
9:15 AM
by Mark Murray
ILLINOIS: Here's the transcript of the wiretap ( http://thehill.com/images/stories/news/ ... script.pdf ) between Sen. Roland Burris and Rob Blagojevich, the ousted former Illinois governor's brother. Burris is on tape suggesting he might arrange a fundraiser for Blagojevich before the end of the year, discusses trying to do it through his law firm under someone else's name so that he's not implicated if it ever gets out and explicitly expresses interest in replacing Obama as senator.
"In the months before his appointment to the Senate, Roland Burris (D-Ill.) promised to issue a $1,500 check to then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s campaign, a conversation captured on FBI wiretaps according to an attorney for the Illinois Senator," Roll Call writes.
racehorse
Thanks for keeping this thread up to date Race. I just read this..
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30989839
He needs to be removed from this position.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - U.S. Sen. Roland Burris said Thursday that he did not mislead lawmakers investigating his Senate appointment because they failed to "follow up with the questions" that could have revealed a conversation he had about fundraising for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
"It is not upon a person who's testifying to go out of his way on anything. It is the person who has to ask the questions," Burris said.....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30989839
He needs to be removed from this position.