Blago pulling end run around everyone; will appoint Roland Burris

[babylonsister]

to Obama's seat this afternoon. Now what happens?

Per m$nbc...

Burris was IL AG from 91-95

Has claimed he was interested in the seat, but no one paid much attention.

[undeterred]

1. Roland Burris

Born in Centralia, Illinois, Roland Burris received his bachelor's degree in political science from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1959. He then studied at the University of Hamburg, Germany, for a year before entering law school at Howard University.

Burris began his career in 1963 as a national bank examiner for the U.S. Treasury Department. This gave him the honor of being the first African American to examine banks in the United States. From 1964 to 1973, he served as vice president of Continental Illinois National Bank, making significant contacts in both the corporate and African American communities. Burris began his government career in 1973 as director of the Illinois Department of General Services. In 1978, with his election to the first of three terms as state comptroller, he made history as the first African American elected to state office. On November 6, 1990, Roland W. Burris was elected attorney general for the state of Illinois. At that time, the only African American ranking higher in state office was Douglas Wilder, the governor of Virginia. He served as Illinois attorney general from 1991 to 1995.

Burris is now an attorney with the Peters law firm in Chicago, where he specializes in environmental, consumer affairs and estate law. Previously he was managing partner of the Chicago-based law firm of Jones, Ware & Grenard, one of the largest minority law firms in the country.

Biographical Note by The HistoryMakers®

[babylonsister]

3. Thanks for the background. Reid has said they'd ignore whomever

Blago might pick, and Fitz has a chit in to have some tapes of Blago released. I wonder if the state reps regret not pushing for impeachment sooner.

This could get ugly. :popcorn:

[MineralMan]

23. Seat him.

Appointed by a sitting Governor at the time of the appointment. I can't find any reason that would fly to not seat him.

Apparently, he's not stained in any major way. He's a Democrat. Let him take his seat. If there's a special election later, he can run in it.

For all we know, Blagojevich may not even be impeached and removed. As of today, he's a legally sitting governor. I don't see a reasonable option.

[RB TexLa]

26. Agreed

[Ichingcarpenter]

39. Born on August 3, 1937 he will be 72 this coming year

Wikipedia didn't have his birthdate but I found it :http://www.answers.com/topic/roland-burris

He sounds pretty solid so far from the article:

"He cited the summer of 1953 as a significant one in his life, for it began on Memorial Day with his dive into Centralia's municipal swimming pool. The city had unofficially barred the town's African American residents from using the facility, until Earl Burris decided that it should be otherwise. Burris's father even hired a lawyer to meet them at the pool that day, in case of trouble, but the attorney failed to appear. "All summer long, I heard my dad saying, 'If we as a race of people are going to get anywhere, we need lawyers and elected officials who are responsive and responsible,'" Burris recalled in the Chicago magazine interview. By the end of that summer, the 16-year-old Burris had decided to pursue a career in politics."


Seems like the Governor threw a wrench into the whole appointment thing.

[JoDog]

45. The "wrench" isn't in the appointment

it may be in the 2010 Dem. primary for the seat. Burris is a good man who seems to have kept himself out of the slime (being from S. IL may have helped that). However, it is unlikely that he will run for the seat in 2010 due to his age. The IL party is split in 2 and frequently at war with itself. Throw in an empty Senate seat, and you've got potential for a bloodbath before we even get to the GOP candidate.

[Ichingcarpenter]

49. I look at him as a one term senator and we really need someone

younger. I wonder how your state is gonna handle this and if the US Senate
is gonna jump into this.

[fed_up_mother]

53. At his age - a placeholder. Not a bad decision, imo.

[CreekDog]

2. could do a lot worse

no idea what happens next. :shrug:

[me b zola]

4. This is just one big cluster f**k

Is Burress going to accept?

Just when I think it can't get any crazier... :crazy:

[babylonsister]

5. You said it! Never a dull with Chi-town politics! nt

[tridim]

7. If he accepts he will not become Senator.

So I'd suggest he decline the appointment.

[malaise]

14. Why?

Blago still has the right to make this appointment. This is fall down funny.
There is no one in Senate from the Democratic Party brave enough to oppose this appointment.

[NYC Liberal]

52. Will they get the 2/3rds needed to expel him?

I dunno.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

6. I think Senate said they would remove from office anyone Blago appointed.

Not sure how they'd do it, though.

[billyoc]

8. They just refuse to sit them in the first place.

No need to remove them.

[AZ Criminal JD]

13. They could try but it wouldn't work

The Supreme Court in Powell v. McCormack and Thornton v. U.S. Term Limits said Congress can only remove people who don't meet the Constitutional requirements of age or residency.

[Jack Rabbit]

9. A few questions

Does Burris have any history of shady dealings beyond what is usual for a Chicago politician?

We know Blago wanted to sell the seat. Did Burris buy it? (I don't know and I'm not saying he did.)

If not, why not seat Burris?

If not, should Fitzgerald drop the investigation and turn over his findings to the impeachment panel? (The more serious crime was prevented by Fitzgerald going public, but Blago still needs to be removed for offering the seat for sale even if he did not actually sell it.)

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

16. A few answers

Burris is from Southern Illinois. That isn't Chicago, and that makes a big difference to downstaters.

Burris had a clean rep when I lived in Illinois (he was comptroller then).

Burris would be a good person to serve as Senator.

[babylonsister]

20. Don't have all the answers, but do know Fitz requested

yesterday that some tapes of Blago be released.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a7kQ.MIVhk_A&refer=us

Fitzgerald May Give Lawmakers Some Blagojevich Tapes (Update3)

[havocmom]

32. If Burris didn't try to buy the seat, is there anyone who would have bought it for him

expecting some favor?

[Jack Rabbit]

47. Who and what?

No third party could possibly know what the next senator from Illinois could do for him. This would make more sense if it could be known beforehand what committee assignments Burris would have.

It also doesn't make sense unless it is assumed that Burris is a corrupt politico, contrary to the testimonies above. But in that case, Burris would be expecting his piece of the action, making him party to the crime.

Blagojevic at this point is trying to stay in the governor's office and out of the slammer. He can best do that by writing off anything he expected to get from selling the seat and making a clean appointment. Even with that, it may be too late for Blago to save his own skin.

[Skink]

10. What if the case falls apart?

Blago hasn't been convicted yet has he? And really, isn't he just guilty of getting caught?

[me b zola]

22. Regardless of conviction

Blago has been politically neutered. Anything that he touches now has the appearance of being tainted.

[Robbien]

28. The case won't fall apart. Anyone watching the impeachment hearings

have no doubt about Blago.

Blago may not be indicted for trying to sell the Senate seat, but he will certainly be sitting behind bars for the hundreds of other "pay to play" deals for which there is solid evidence.

[malaise]

11. It's Blago's call

and he could do worse. Harry Reid has no say in this.

[undeterred]

15. Its a good choice as far as I know.

A highly qualified, scandal free, African American to replace the only AA in the Senate.

[malaise]

19. May turn out to be the best solution

while they sort things out for 2010.

[babylonsister]

24. Every Dem in the Senate voted for Blago to resign:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1208/All_50_Dem_senators_call_on_Blagojevich_to_resign.html

I don't know what that means, if anything, if they guy is technically still in power.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. I remember Burris as a good guy and an effective politician

I was involved in politics in Southern Illinois in the 80s, and never recall anyone saying anything bad about Burris at all.

[undeterred]

17. I lived in IL till 2000 and the name is very familiar, in a positive way.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

21. "Continue the Excellence"

was Burris's campaign slogan in the '80s. That says something about the man, I think.

[malaise]

18. The appointment is perfectly legal

Burris said earlier that he would serve out the term but would not run in 2010.

[undeterred]

25. That should make it even less controversial.

Burris has to be close to 70.

[babylonsister]

27. Then this could be a good thing. We need a Dem from IL representing

ASAP. Now, will anyone acknowledge Blago has the appointing power?

[malaise]

29. He's the Governor

He's still in office. It's legal. QED. An absolutely perfect solution. Now get rid of the corrupt governor and find a clean Dem to run in 2010. If I was a betting woman, I'd say Rahm will run in 2010. :D

add.

[babylonsister]

30. Really?

I kind of knew he was the gov :), but he's living under a big bad cloud at the moment.

And Rahm will probably still be busy in his new job come 2010 unless he sticks his foot in it.

[malaise]

33. That makes no difference

He's still in office and neither Harry Reid nor the Chicago legislature have any say in this matter.
Blago has just silenced all of them. They can remove him by impeachment in February but he is still having the last laugh here.
You may be right re Rahm.

[babylonsister]

35. Check the update. He's apparently not acceptable. nt

[malaise]

42. Let Harry et al chat

Apparently they're reading the rules as well as they did the WMD weapons and Patriot Act documents.
Too many leaders facilitate dangerous precedents when they don't read the rules. Harry can't do shit.

[babylonsister]

36. Check the update. He's apparently not acceptable. nt

[dansolo]

31. Thit is probably the best solution

I lived in IL, and I have heard nothing negative about Burris at all. If he is selected as a placeholder until 2010, I would be perfectly happy with it. It is probably the best option. He is probably the least controversial pick, and will leave an open field in 2010. While Democrats would prefer to have an incumbent in that seat, I'd rather have a Senator that is not going to be solely focused for the next two years on their re-election campaign. I think that the NY Senator selection should go the same way-put in a placeholder.

[babylonsister]

34. UPDATE per m$nbc/Chuck Todd. Burris won't be acceptable,

but I didn't hear why. I'll get back to you on that.

[babylonsister]

37. Reid to make statement shortly: This choice is unacceptable,

per m$nbc. :shrug:

[undeterred]

40. Well, Reid is pretty unacceptable at times.

[madrchsod]

46. screw reid--burris is a great pick

and will save this state millions on a special election..i guess reid wants to gamble on the senate seat going to the rethugs

[babylonsister]

48. I'll wait to hear his/their reasoning. Maybe they don't want to lend

any legitimacy to Blago.

[madrchsod]

55. reid is gambling that illinois will elect a democrat in a special election

the state and the parties do not have the money for a special election. the senate seat won`t be filled until summer. an open seat when obama needs a democratic vote? worse there`s no guarantee that a democrat would be elected.

durbin better speak up

[babylonsister]

56. Not necessarily. If Blago is impeached, the LT Gov gets to

make a selection.

[firedupdem]

38. My family is telling me that the same people that

picketed JJJ's house are the same people that wanted Roland in office. No links of course this is just family talking.

[babylonsister]

41. I didn't know anyone picketed JJJ. What was that about?

Sounds like Reid is going to try to put the kibosh on this now. Stay tuned!

[firedupdem]

43. When JJJ came out as candidate #5

there was a group of people picketing his house with signs saying he paid to play etc. I didn't know about it either. He says it's the same group that wants Roland in. I'm going to try and find more info. He was at work and couldn't tell me more. I'm going to google and see what I can find.

[bottomtheweaver]

51. Hmm.. not good.

Fake "demonstrations" are one of the repuke's favorite tricks. I got the distinct impression JJJ was the primary target of this shit fiesta and it sounds like he may well have been.

[madrchsod]

44. great pick..he`ll do a great job for my state and america

[AngryAmish]

50. Great pick - Reid can shove it up his ass

Roland Burris one one of the few good guys in IL politics.

[madrchsod]

54. where`s durbin?.....

maybe reid will pony up for the millions a special election will cost us...you want to gamble on the senate seat this year? i sure do`t. maybe chicago can elect a democrat but out here i would`t bet the farm...

[babylonsister]

57. I heard he was in talks with Reid to see how they'd approach the

situation.