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Thursday, January 01, 2009

Because of the questions still left hanging about Minnesota's second Senate seat, Roland Burris impacts us.

This post is serious, and not seized upon for its irony.

Gov. Rod B. of Illinois selected Roland Burris for the vacant Obama seat.

He is not a candidate without credentials, but also not without problems.

Whatever intracacies he encounters in seeking to be seated soon in the Senate will carry suggestions about how the Franken - Coleman situation might unwind.

Read about Burris and his unique status here, here, here, here, here and here, plus other hits from this Google.

Every situation that is not routine has its distinguishing facts; in this instance an appointing governor has problems; in our case a sitting Senator has his, and the Kazeminy situation, so far at least, has not had any wiretap evidence or criminal charges disclosed or filed. We wait, and the Burris situation will not be an exact analog to Minnesota's.

______UPDATE________
A unique situation attaching to Burris, is one of race, added via this update because I was searching for this report, which first triggered my interest in posting about Burris but was erased from the browser before I started this item:

If Burris shows up Tuesday to claim the seat given to him by disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the potential outcomes range from a denial of entry to a limbo where he can hire staff but not vote.

On Wednesday, Burris' lawyers took the first action in what could be a prolonged court fight, seeking to force Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to certify Blagojevich's paperwork making the appointment.

Should Burris show up without that certification, armed police officers stand ready to bar him from the Senate floor, said a Democratic official briefed on Senate leaders' plans.

The leadership also is preparing for the possibility of Blagojevich appearing to escort Burris. The scandal-plagued governor would be allowed onto the Senate floor, since sitting governors are allowed floor privileges, but not Burris.

Burris said he planned to show up when new members are sworn in Tuesday and ask to be seated as the Senate's lone African American. "We're not going to create a scene in Washington," Burris said. "We hope it's negotiated out prior to my going to Washington."

In a round of interviews, he didn't shy away from race. "It is a fact, there are no African Americans in the United States Senate," he said on NBC's "Today." "Is it racism that is taking place? That's a question that someone may raise."

President-elect Obama opposes seating Burris, but four black Democrats in the House said Wednesday he should be allowed to join the Senate. Those who called for Burris to be seated were Reps. Maxine Waters of California; Donald Payne of New Jersey; Donna Christensen of the Virgin Islands; and Danny Davis of Illinois, who said Blagojevich offered him the Senate seat but he turned it down.

Senate Democrats expressed no willingness to negotiate and vowed to bar anyone appointed by Blagojevich because of his alleged attempt to sell Obama's Senate seat.

First, they hope Burris is stalled by paperwork. Senate rules require an incoming senator's selection be certified by the secretary of state for his home state, and White declined Wednesday to sign the certification.

Burris responded by filing a petition with the Illinois Supreme Court challenging White's refusal and asking justices to compel him to do his prescribed duty.


It is possible that other outlets picked up the Chicago Tribune's reporting as the Seattle paper did. I rely on the Seattle carry of the Trib's item.

______FURTHER UPDATE________
A strike against the man, a big staring ugly fact - he looks to be a revolving door lobbyist:

2002-2009

Burris is manager/CEO of Burris & Lebed Consulting, LLC, which was formed in April 2002. It is a consulting service concentrating in public relations, governmental representation, political strategies, and corporate strategies. He also serves as of counsel to the law firm of Gonzalez, Saggio and Harlan, L.L.C. His areas of legal concentration are business transactions, estate planning, wills, trusts, probate, and consumer affairs.


Also, as often the case with revolving door lobbyists, there's other baggage - overzealous willingness to convict, to fight to uphold a dead wrong verdict - a form of prosecutorial or bureaucratic abuse, as with badge heavy policing:

Rolando Cruz controversy

In 1985, Rolando Cruz was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for kidnaping, rape, and murder along with a co-defendant in a DuPage County Circuit Court. In 1992, Assistant Attorney General Mary Brigid Kenney, whom Burris had assigned to fight Cruz's appeal, sent Burris a memo identifying numerous errors in the investigation and trial in Cruz's initial conviction. Burris ignored Kenney's warnings, and she resigned in protest.

In September 1995, DNA tests showed that neither Cruz nor his co-defendant were the contributors of the semen found at the crime scene. On November 3, 1995, a DuPage County judge acquitted Cruz on the basis of recanted testimony, the DNA evidence, and the lack of any substantiated evidence against Cruz. He was fully pardoned by Governor George Ryan in 2002.


[footnotes omitted]. To some that would not be a defect. It surpirses me he is a Democrat. But a Chicago Democrat, with a history of handling and accounting for the money - it is its own thing. But there is no hint of impropriety - of any buried skeletons of any kind. An interesting choice. Boy Scouts, National Center for Responsible Gambling, Operation Push. An interesting spectrum. Chicago Sun Times, here.