Peoria Pundit

No one asked Burris to shake Blago’s hand.

Via Capitol Fax Blog: The Associated Press is reporting that Senate Democrats plan to accept Roland Burris as Barack Obama’s replacement.

My two cents: Gutless wonders. A month ago, every last one of them vowed to not seat anyone Rod Blagojevich appointed. But they let race baiting tactics scare them into submission.

These same critics will be all over them for letting a corrupt governor appoint a corrupt former Illinois pol.

While many GOP supporters are loving the heck out of Roland Burris’s attempt to get himself seated as Illinois’s junior U.S. Senator, Congressman Aaron Schock (R-18th District) is having none of it. Some see it as a perfect way to create a wedge between black voters and the Democratic Party.* But Schock — who has made reaching out to black voters part of his appeal — sees this issue as about corruption: From the New York Times:

“You know, prior to this, I had a great deal of respect for Mr. Burris,” Mr. Schock said. “He served the state well.” But, he added, that the appointment not only called Mr. Blagojevich’s judgment into question, but that of Mr. Burris.

“I don’t think he should pursue it,” said the Illinois lawmaker, a former president of the Peoria Board of Education. “I’m disappointed that he is doing this.”

He added: “Most of my colleagues are not just fed up with Blagojevich, but also with Roland Burris.” This is “not the way you reinstill faith in the electorate,” he warned, adding that it helped explain why the state’s lawmakers are trying to expedite the impeachment process, with a vote in the Illinois House as soon as Jan. 15.

This morning, I heard some anchorperson describe Burris a “respected’ Illinois politician. No. He is not. Read this post at The Capitol Fax Blog about all the reasons Burris is not respected, from awarding  contracts to contributors, using campaign cash to boost his state pension to helping Blagojevich’s wife land a full time job.

*Sorry Chris Nuir, but it’s true. They aren’t refusing to seat Burris because he is black, but in spite of that fact. And if Senator Reid is racist, so is Barack Obama and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. By defending Burris, you are saying that a governor charged with selling a seat in the Senate should should be allowed to appoint someone to the Senate who may very well have helped put money into the pocket of that same governor and his wife. By accusing Reid of being a racist, you are playing the race card. Isn’t that someone that conservatives are supposed to oppose?

The Chicago Council of Lawyers and the Fund for Justice did a survey of the Illinois Attorney General’s office back in the 1990s. Then AG Roland Burris refuse to let his staff participate. The resulting survey found:

Based upon our judicial surveys and interviews with present and former attorneys within the Attorney General’s Office, it appears that personnel policies are nonexistent, the quality of lawyering is inconsistent, communication and cooperation are lacking, morale is low, and too much legal work is being given to outside counsel. Some employees of state agencies told us that they did not trust the AGO for reasons of both (1) politics (they felt the AGO put politics ahead of quality representation) and (2) incompetence (they did not believe the AGO provides quality representation).

Hat tip: Reverse spin.

Meanwhile, Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn has this to say about Burris:

Roland Burris is a disagreeable mediocrity as a politician.

Voters have rightly rejected him numerous times in his bids for higher office—governor, U.S. senator, mayor of Chicago—because he’s at least six parts ego to one part performance, a charmless, presumptuous irritant on the stump and at the debate lectern.

Zorn is still POed at Burris for turning a blind eye toward Rolando Cruz’s apparent innocence because he didn’t want to appear soft on crime.

Zorn still thinks that Burris will eventually end up getting a seat in the U.S. Senate. Rich Miller, who is almost never wrong about these sorts of things, says different. He thinks with Secretary of State Jesse White and the United States Senate throwing up too many roadblocks, Burris will never be seated.

The way I see it is this: Some time between now and when Blago is impeached, Burris will have to get BOTH the Illinois Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in his favor. Neither body is going to be eager to step in the middle of a process that is political by statute and is still ongoing. The U.S. Senate can simply refer the issue of Burriss’ appointment to a committee and wait until future Governor Pat Quinn’s appointment is certified by White.

And as to efforts to play the race card and guilt the Democrats into seating him, well let’s just say that little trick is not going to word. President-elect Obama is on record opposing Burris’s appointment. As that great philosopher Wanda Sykes said, “You can’t blame the man when you ARE the man.”

On one hand, former Illinois comptroller and attorney general Roland Burris seems a decent about person to serve the remainder at Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.

But why in the world Burris, at or near the end of his career, wants to taint himself with corruption by associating himself with Rod Blagojevich is beyond me.

It’s not like they are going to let him serve. Secretary of State Jesse White isn’t going to certify the appointment. And if he does, the U.S. Senate will refuse to seat him.

Yes, I know. There are Constitutional issues involved in both scenarios.

But by the time those get sorted out, Blago will be out of office thanks to impeachment, and new Governor Pat Quinn will be able to pick someone who wont be tainted by Blago, which is what the Illinois Constitution says should happen.

Feh.