I bet this decision disappointed a whole lot of people in Illinois. Especially Jesse Jackson Jr. and Valerie Jarrett to name a few. Roland Burris may be the one qualified Democrat with a proven track record that Illinois political insiders didn't want Rod Blagojeveich to pick. He has had moderate success but he's not a favorite. You might call him a perennial candidate of sorts. He has ran for political office nine times. With his latest defeat coming courtesy of Rod Blagojoveich himself. Burris is just a Afro-American, Democrat with a history who was in the right place at the right time.
The flip side of all this is his record might be tainted by being picked by Gov. Blagoveich to fill the Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. I don't know anything about Roland Burris, but he hasn't broke any laws that we know about. I think the future will be kind to him.
Burris Will Take His Seat as a Senator From Illinois
ReplyDeleteBy CARL HULSE
Published: January 12, 2009
WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leaders said Monday that Roland W. Burris would be seated as the new senator from Illinois, resolving a conflict that had drawn the Senate into a corruption scandal surrounding Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich.
After a review of a new letter from the Illinois secretary of state affirming Mr. Burris’s appointment, the two top Senate Democrats — Harry Reid of Nevada and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois — said his paperwork now complied with Senate rules.
“We have spoken to Mr. Burris to let him know that he is now the senator-designate from Illinois and as such will be accorded all the rights and privileges of a senator-elect,” they said in a statement.
Senate officials said they were planning to swear in Mr. Burris this week, a remarkable turn of events considering the Democrats’ previous insistence that he would not be seated.
At issue are the circumstances of Mr. Burris’s appointment by Mr. Blagojevich, who has been accused of trying to trade the appointment for personal gain. The Illinois House impeached Mr. Blagojevich last week.
In Illinois, Mr. Burris, 71, said he was “truly humbled and honored to learn that later this week I will officially be sworn into the United States Senate as the Illinois junior senator.”
Mr. Burris, a former state attorney general, has testified that he had made no deals with Mr. Blagojevich for the appointment.
The statement by the Senate leaders indicated they no longer planned to ask the Rules Committee to review the appointment, eliminating another hurdle to Mr. Burris’s joining the Senate.
Senate Republicans could still block a swearing-in, but they have shown no eagerness to be drawn into what has been an embarrassing episode for Democrats.
Mr. Burris would give Democrats 58 seats in the Senate. The Senate race in Minnesota is undecided, with the Republican incumbent, Norm Coleman, challenging a recount that awarded the seat to his Democratic opponent, Al Franken.
The decision to end the dispute over the Illinois appointment means that Mr. Burris, who is black, will replace President-elect Barack Obama as the lone black member of the Senate.
Late last month, Mr. Blagojevich defied the Senate by selecting Mr. Burris, setting off criticism that the appointment was invalid.
As late as midday Friday, Senate officials were insisting that Mr. Burris lacked the necessary credentials — under Senate rules — because the Illinois secretary of state, citing the tainted appointment, refused to sign the governor’s appointment papers.
Mr. Burris’s fortunes began to change after a memorable scene on Capitol Hill last Tuesday, when Democratic leaders rejected his request to be sworn in.
Lacking official standing, Mr. Burris walked quietly back outside on a gray, rainy day, surrounded by a swarm of cameras and journalists who followed his every step across the street for a news conference.
Mr. Burris’s lawyers on Monday hand-carried to the Senate an additional document bearing a state seal, an affirmation of the appointment and a mass-produced signature of the secretary of State, Jesse White.
Those documents, combined with the governor’s original papers, led the secretary of the Senate to deem Mr. Burris’s credentials satisfactory.
The chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, Andy McKenna, criticized Senate leaders for signing off on Mr. Burris’s appointment.
In a statement, he said: “By failing to strip Rod Blagojevich of his Senate appointment power, Democrats chose to trust a madman over the people of Illinois.”
Republicans favor a special election to fill the seat.
Mr. Burris would be eligible to serve through 2010. He said Monday that no decision had been made about whether he would seek to win the seat by election in two years.
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