Fresh Burris disaster thread
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller * Gee, where have we heard this one before?
Rod Blagojevich appears to be on hiatus from his public relations offensive, so maybe his PR firm can get to work Twittering on Burris’ behalf and booking him on every goofy cable TV show in New York. Then again, I think I read somewhere that Drew Peterson’s girlfriend just moved back in so maybe they’re busy. …Adding… How can you do a PR offensive if you don’t talk to the media?
Maybe he just means the “Illinois media.” You have to parse every word with him and then suspend all reality. * Fred Lebed probably reveals more than he intended…
So, essentially, Fred had to make sure that former Attorney General Roland Burris understood his ethical duties? Sheesh. This gets worse by the minute. * Meanwhile, it won’t come as a surprise to you that Burris lied again…
His affidavits didn’t contradict each other? Who’s he kidding? Himself? * This is how Burris parses it…
It’s impossible to argue with someone who can’t accept basic facts. He said he was interested in the appointment. He made that statement to six people close to the governor. His original sworn affidavit claimed there was “not any contact” between himself or any representatives of the governor “regarding my appointment.” Burris ought to be ashamed of himself for splitting hairs like this. It might stand up in court, but it certainly shouldn’t be presented to the court of public opinion. * The Illinois House had a bit of an explosion today over Majority Leader Currie’s failure to inform the impeachment committee that Sen. Burris had submitted a new affidavit for over a week…
The Republicans, as expected, went on a full rampage after Currie’s speech. * Congressman Phil Hare became the first member of Congress to go all the way…
You said it, Phil. State Rep. Lou Lang is another Democrat who has called on Burris to resign, by the way. * But Bill Daley stops well short of calling for Sen. Roland Burris’ resignation…
Yeah, that’ll happen. …Adding… The Associated Press finds two people in a southern Illinois diner who say some nice things about Roland Burris and the headline reads: Burris getting support from Illinoisans. I’m at a loss for words.
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Live video, live blogging of Burris’ City Club appearance
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller * 12:14 pm - Watch Sen. Roland Burris’ City Club address live via CBS2 by clicking here. The Sun-Times is live-blogging Sen. Burris’ appearance as well. I have other things to do, so please help others by live-blogging here in comments. Thanks. * 1:03 pm - I was only paying half attention, but I didn’t hear much new. Same old “Roland Burris is a great guy and you all know it” pablum. Now come the questions. Asked if all the facts are now out. “They’re out from me,” but he joked that he didn’t know if they were all out. And it’s over. Burris refused to take questions about specific aspects of the appointment controversy. Pretty much useless.
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5th CD roundup *** UPDATED x2 WITH O’CONNOR TV AD & CAPPARELLI ENDORSEMENTS ***
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller *** UPDATE 1 *** Here’s Ald. O’Connor’s new cable TV ad which is mentioned below. The campaign claims to have raised $200K in the past couple of weeks and say they’ll be expanding the buy… *** UPDATE 2 *** A Democratic candidate is getting some very conservative endorsements. From a press release…
That’s quite interesting. [ *** End of Updates *** ] * As of February 6th, Democrat Paul Bryar’s relatively uncovered, unknown congressional campaign claimed to have raised $250,000 in contributions. That’s pretty darned good and in the top tier of all candidates if true. But, as they say on the teevee, that’s not all. Check out the independent expenditures in the district as of today. The American Academy of Opthalmology PAC has spent almost $59,000 in the district so far. According to his website Bryar plays a “leadership role” with the American Academy of Opthalmology. Bryar says he had a volunteer post to help streamline electronic health records. Bryar said today that my call to his campaign manager asking about the IE was the first he had heard of the expenditure, and pointed out that he’s not on the board of directors and wouldn’t know of its activities. By law, he’s not allowed to coordinate his message or activities with the group. Coordination complaints are sometimes filed even if there’s no actual wrongdoing (just for a press pop, in other words), but Bryar is so unknown (his first poll showed him at 0 percent) that nothing will likely be said or done. Bryar said he’s running about 1,100 cable TV ads a week, which he claims is more than anyone else in the race. He didn’t know how many ratings points that translates into, and it’s tough to figure that without knowing which channels and programs are running his ads. It’s not a huge amount. Cable requires big buys over a long period of time to work most effectively. Here’s his ad… He’s also doing mail. He has the money to be competitive, but this special election will require a serious, seasoned ground game. “Normal” people just won’t vote. Campaigns will have to physically drag their identified supporters to the polls. * Also, if you clicked on that IE link above, you saw that Emily’s List has spent about $11K on behalf of Rep. Sara Feigenholtz’s congressional campaign. Expect that to grow. Also, expect SEIU to jump in as well. If both groups take the big leap, these independent expenditures could turn out to be the real story in the campaign. * Ald. Pat O’Connor has also hit the cable TV “airwaves” with a new ad. He’s spending $25K over five days. A commenter reported last night that O’Connor is also now doing robocalls. * Meanwhile, the Sun-Times has a piece about Rep. John Fritchey getting hammered for defending Roland Burris during the House impeachment committee…
Here’s the exchange in question…
That ain’t exactly felonius, but we’re in the middle of a bona fide media feeding frenzy and Fritchey is getting munched. He hasn’t gotten a whole lot of good press this cycle anyway. Witness this Tribune hed about Fritchey’s latest TV ad: Fritchey airs attack ad in race to replace Rahm Emanuel. Oof. As I told you yesterday, the Tribune’s endorsement of Mike Quigley included a whack at Fritchey. * Fritchey has said he’d support a special election, but Rep. Feigenoltz just called for Burris to resign. From a press release…
* Related…
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Burris on the defensive
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller * The Tribune called for Sen. Roland Burris’ resignation in an editorial this morning. The SJ-R did so as well…
The Sun-Times demanded answers…
Phil Kadner called him a crud…
* Mark Brown offers up a theory…
And continues…
I agree. If, that is, Burris is telling the truth now. We don’t know whether that’s the truth or not. More…
* Eric Zorn offers up a possible way out…
Dragging Obama into this won’t be pleasant. He doesn’t want to go there. And African-American ministers and civil rights leaders are still solidly (at least publicly) expressing their support. Even Bobby Rush is keeping things muted…
And didn’t completely take the racial bait…
Congressman Danny Davis’ defense of Burris yesterday was tepid, as Bored Now notes… …But it was still a defense. * And his friends list is shrinking. Organized labor is also upset with him…
* And Sen. Durbin has finally responded, but was more than a bit vague…
* Related…
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Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
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Wednesday, Feb 18, 2009 - Posted by Rich Miller
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