Gregory D.

Lee

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March 13, 2009

Mr. Burris Goes to Washington, But He Shouldn’t Unpack His Bags

What is it about Illinois politicians and telling the truth? I’m not talking about the president who promised before the election to scrub out earmarks from bills sent to him by Congress, and then once elected, can’t wait to sign a spending bill with about 9,000 earmarks in it! 

I’m referring to the newly appointed Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL), who suddenly remembered that he did have past conversations with Robert Blagojevich, the former Illinois governor’s brother, about the vacant Senate seat he now holds. I suspect that his attorney told him that the FBI probably had recordings of his conversations with the governor’s brother, and that was enough to enhance his memory. It’s amazing what even the possibility of a recorded telephone conversation does to enhance someone’s memory.

Sen. Burris originally said that he had never had any conversations with either the governor or any member of his staff, including the brother. In a sworn affidavit he said, “There was not any contact between myself or any of my representatives with Gov. Blagojevich or any of his representatives regarding my appointment to the U.S. Senate.”

Three days later he testified under oath before the Illinois impeachment panel and was asked specifically about contacts with the governor and his brother. He restated that he had not. Then later, he volunteered more information about his contacts within the Blagojevich Administration because he said he wasn’t given an adequate amount of time to explain himself. Is that so? He also said that he was never pressed to give more details. Really? Do these sound like excuses to you? Because they sure do to me.

Not surprisingly, pulling a page from the Clinton playbook, Sen. Burris accused Republicans of playing politics by calling for a perjury investigation. How predictable.

Sen. Burris’s voluntary affidavits, which contradict his previous statements, are obviously an attempt to cover himself from any criminal liability in both the pending federal matter and any future state inquiries. How dumb does he think we are?

You know you’re politically radioactive when the senior senator from your state calls for your resignation as the junior senator. Especially when the senior senator, Dick Durbin, is white, and the junior senator, Burris, is black.

The new governor of Illinois, Pat Quinn, is also calling for Burris’s resignation. Governor Quinn wants a special election to replace Sen. Burris, despite the possibility a Republican could win the seat.

The culture of corruption in Illinois has to change in order to have good representative government. The political machine that has existed there for decades needs to be dismantled and replaced with corruption-free government. And I’d like to eat gallons of ice cream and not gain any weight, but that’s not going to happen either.

It will be a while before former Gov. Blagojevich will be tried in federal court for his alleged misconduct. Other politicians could be swept up in the FBI’s probe, and it will be interesting to see which one of them will take a fall, and who will cooperate.  

In light of these revelations, and his own admission that under oath, he did not fully tell the truth about his contacts with the former governor’s brother and members of the governor’s staff concerning the vacant Senate seat, Burris should resign and go back into retirement. But that would be the right thing to do, so there is no chance of that happening. Also, it would be out of character for an Illinois politician to resign unless first convicted of some sort of crime, as evidenced by the long list of former governors, congressmen, etc. who have found their way to a federal prison.

If Sen. Burris does not resign, the U.S. Senate should expel him. But that might become nasty and take time away from thinking of different ways to spend your future great-grandchildren’s hard earned tax money on new, unnecessary socialist programs.

Gregory D. Lee writes a weekly syndicated column for North Star Writers Group. He can be reached through his web site: www.gregorydlee.com.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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