* You had to figure this was gonna happen sooner or later. Turns out, it’s sooner…
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday it was likely that former Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris would be seated as the state’s newest senator this week after a legal review of new paperwork regarding the Senate appointment.
The review Monday by Senate legal counsel marks the latest twist in the on-again, off-again seating of Burris, who was appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich three weeks after the now-impeached Illinois governor was arrested on federal corruption charges that include allegations he attempted to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. While it appeared the Senate was closer Sunday to seating Burris, there are potential hitches.
Senate Democrats spent about 30 minutes discussing Burris’ situation in a closed-door meeting Sunday that resulted in Obama’s chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, cooling his heels in a Senate hallway waiting to discuss the president-elect’s economic recovery package.
“This thing changes by the day,” Durbin said, explaining why he and his colleagues spent such a long time discussing the matter.
* This sort of thing won’t help Burris’ chances in 2010…
Just days after Gov. Rod Blagojevich accepted his party’s nod for re-election in 2006, a letter arrived at state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka’s office seeking thousands of pages of documents Blagojevich could use as ammunition against her in their upcoming campaign.
The letter was signed by Roland Burris.
It was one of several requests Burris made to the treasurer’s office in 2006, a campaign practice known as opposition research in which candidates use public documents to question their opponents’ records.
* Did you happen to catch SNL? I didn’t, either, but here’s the Burris clip…
