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Afternoon Burris trainwreck updates *** UPDATED x1 ***

Friday, Feb 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

*** UPDATE *** Uh-oh

Three weeks ago I was temporarily detailed to serve as Chief of Staff to Senator Roland W. Burris. Though my tenure was relatively brief, I enjoyed and valued my time with Senator Burris, his entire staff and his other advisors.

As of today, my role as Interim Chief of Staff to Senator Burris will end. I will resume, in full, my duties as Senior Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

I wish Senator Burris and his family the best.

Sincerely,

Darrel Thompson

[ *** End of Update *** ]

* The President’s message to Sen. Roland Burris was subtle but clear

In what sounded like a veiled threat, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs called on Sen. Roland Burris to “take some time over the weekend” to explain once and for all exactly what happened before his appointment to the Senate and to consider “his future.”

While not saying that President Barack Obama would join the swelling chorus for Burris to quit the Senate seat, Gibbs left the impression that something like that could happen if the White House is left unsatisfied with Burris’s actions in coming days.

“The appointment of Sen. Burris and his taking the Senate seat was based largely on the … factual representations that he made to the people of Illinois through interviews and through his testimony to the impeachment committee,” Gibbs said.

“It has been reported extensively (that) some of the stories seem to be at variance with what’s happened and that the president is supportive of an investigation that would get some full story out. I think it might important for Sen. Burris to take some time this weekend to either correct what has been said and certainly think of what lays in his future,” Gibbs said.

* And a likely candidate calls for Burris’ resignation

Illinois state treasurer Alexi Giannoulias today joined other statewide officers in calling for Sen. Roland Burris to resign.

“Senator Burris’ statements have been misleading at best and make clear he was not upfront or forthright during his testimony before the Illinois House Impeachment Committee. He violated the public’s trust, which sorely needed restoring following the governor’s impeachment,” Giannoulias said in a statement.

* Notice that the operative word here is “could” and not “will”…

The Senate Ethics Committee could complete its inquiry of Roland W. Burris within weeks and without waiting for any possible criminal case about discrepancies in statements about his appointment, lawyers familiar with the panel said Friday.

Committee investigations sometimes last months and often defer to criminal cases, such as in last year’s trial of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. But because Burris, an Illinois Democrat, has offered multiple explanations about how he was appointed, the committee could focus on how he was seated rather than results of a potential criminal charge of perjury.

“The committee could look at this and say that the core activities here really go to the Senate appointment,” said Robert L. Walker of Wiley Rein LLP, a former chief counsel and staff director for the Senate and House ethics committees. “The committee could look at those as core Senate issues and we’re going to look at those and not defer.”

* Eric Zorn zaps one of the goofier arguments made today. And Congress Matters obliterates one of the goofiest arguments made this week.

  32 Comments      


Movement on Burris?

Friday, Feb 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

* If true, this is excellent news

A Chicago minister tells The Associated Press he and other black pastors who previously supported U.S. Sen. Roland Burris now plan to ask the embattled senator to resign.

The minister, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because a meeting with Burris hadn’t yet been scheduled, says the senator can no longer serve effectively.

Hopefully, this is the beginning of a different way of doing business for some African-American pastors who seem all too willing to loudly support seriously flawed political allies. They got played badly by Rod Blagojevich for years, and their support for him after his arrest was embarassing.

* Oops

If U.S. Sen. Roland Burris misled the Illinois House impeachment committee with a false account of his appointment, he did the same thing with the Illinois Supreme Court last month.

In a lawsuit to force Secretary of State Jesse White to certify his appointment to the Senate, Burris submitted the now-discredited Jan. 5 sworn statement to the state High Court that he earlier had sent to the House panel. The affidavit said it would “set the record straight” about his appointment and show it was “free of taint and entirely lawful.” […]

“He went to the highest court in our state and lied,” said Rep. Susana Mendoza (D-Chicago), who said Burris should be stripped of the law license he has held since 1964.

* This revelation isn’t hugely egregious, but it shows how intensely Burris lobbied for himself…

A former top official for then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Thursday he got a “courtesy call” from Roland Burris last fall noting Burris’ interest in a vacant U.S. Senate seat—a contact Burris failed to mention to lawmakers in his evolving testimony about how he got the job.

John Filan, former chief operating officer in Blagojevich’s administration, also said Burris called him later—after Blagojevich’s Dec. 9 arrest on federal corruption charges. Filan said Burris asked him to put in a good word with then-Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn if Quinn became governor and inherited the power to make the Senate appointment.

The part that troubles me most is that Burris met with Filan about official state business and brought up his appointment…

Filan said Burris was inquiring about legal business for the Illinois Finance Authority on behalf of the law firm for which he was of counsel. But he also brought up his continued interest in the Senate seat, Filan said. “I think he [Burris] basically said, ‘If it were to come to pass that Pat Quinn would become the governor, would you put a good word in for me?’ ” Filan recalled. “I didn’t do that, however.”

* Rod Blagojevich, Jr.

Having met with his advisers and decided to fight calls for his resignation, embattled Sen. Roland Burris relaunched his listening tour of Illinois on Friday, but without the reporters who planned to follow him again.

Emerging from his South Side home early morning, Burris quickly entered a vehicle waiting for him outside his home — and shut the door without taking questions from reporters.

* Sen. Dick Durbin cranks up the rhetoric, but stops short of demanding Burris’ resignation…

“It’s sickening,” Durbin said in an interview. “Short of Roland Burris resigning or resolving this issue - if he can, and I don’t know if he can - I don’t know what will stop it. I’m tired of this Blagojevich burlesque that’s been going on for so long. The people of our state should be spared this.”

* The Tribune demands that Democrats take a stand on Burris’ resignation, and the Rockford paper makes this claim…

Burris obviously forgot how harsh the spotlight can be and how uncomfortable questions can become when you say yes to a man who, as prosecutors said, was in the midst of a “corruption crime spree.”

He’s been getting a pass from the Illinois media for so long that he really had no clue what he was in for.

* This doesn’t seem to be going anywhere yet

Illinois Republicans resurrected calls Thursday for a special election targeted at removing U.S. Sen. Roland Burris from office. […]

They also want a one-time only special election this spring to fill the seat now held by Burris.

Gov. Quinn appears to back the concept, but Speaker Madigan is not enthralled…

But Democrats, who control the legislative agenda, aren’t on board. A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan said Thursday the GOP proposal could result in a protracted legal battle by Burris, as well as cost local election authorities millions of dollars.

And

“It would be the constitutional equivalent of a Hail Mary pass, but desperate times call for desperate measures,” wrote Garrett Epps, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, who first pointed out the loophole on the political news and opinion Web site Salon.com.

* Related…

* Quinn holds back from demanding Burris resignation

* During ISU visit, Quinn stops short of calling for Burris to resign

* Mayor Daley Says Burris Has Some Explaining To Do

* Hynes calls for Burris to resign

* What people are saying about Burris

* Burris case: Experts say proving someone knowingly lied is tough

* Why Roland Burris keeps fighting

* Burris has two choices

* Burris should know controversy abhors a vacuum

* The real Roland Burris? Please stand up

* How Will Burris Tombstone Read

  28 Comments      


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Friday, Feb 20, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller

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