Roland Burris admits to untruths under oath
Saturday, Feb 14, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller * Did US Sen. Roland Burris perjure himself before the IL House impeachment committee? From the Sun-Times…
* Burris has now offered three different versions of events regarding Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of him to the Senate. In his original sworn affidavit to the impeachment committee, Burris wrote…
But when he testifed to the House impeachment committee, Burris said he also had a conversation about his interest in the appointment with Lon Monk, a Statehouse lobbyist who was Blagojevich’s former chief of staff. Other than that, though, Burris said there were no further conversations. * Now, however, Burris has filed another affidavit with the impeachment committee chairperson, Majority Leader Barbara Currie…
So, he’s gone from no contact with anyone in his original sworn affidavit, to one guy in his sworn testimony, to five guys in his revised affidavit. * And here’s the kicker…
Robert Blagojevich’s lawyer claims that his client didn’t know of Burris’ interest in the Senate seat. That would be a crucial point because Burris said during his testimony that there was no quid pro quo offered or accepted. The question now is whether anyone can be believed at this point. Since Burris has given us three different sworn versions of events, he isn’t exactly the greatest witness for himself. But if Burris is on the FBI surveillance tapes talking to Rob Blagojevich, then we may eventually get an answer. …Adding… This video clip shows how poor the follow-up questions were to Burris during the impeachment hearing. The Republicans had him cold and they let him off… [Hat tip: Progress Illinois] * Transcript…
The question was asked again, and Burris talked about his meeting with Monk. But no follow-ups were asked about the others.
|
Somebody finally gets through to Burris’ office
Tuesday, Feb 10, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller * Sometimes, a bit of pointed meannes works. Kurt Erickson’s column from the other day…
* Kurt Erickson today in the Pantagraph…
At least Erickson got through to the chief of staff. Burris’ first Illinois press conference ought to be a hoot. In fairness to Burris, however, I should note that Sen. Dick Durbin the other day offered up some pretty good reasons for the seeming confusion at Burris’ office, including the lack of staff, no posted e-mail address, nobody answering phones for a time, etc. Senators usually pick staffers from people who worked on their campaigns, Durbin said, pointing out that Burris had no campaign. Senators also have three months between the election and their swearing in to make sure everything is in order. Burris had pretty much no time. As far as the phone problem was concerned, Durbin said that the complaints arose during a period when conservative talk radio hosts were ginning people up to call their Senators against the stimulus bill. Burris, like almost everybody else, was swamped.
|
« NEWER POSTS | PREVIOUS POSTS » |