You have to feel for Roland Burris. He's come into a dream come true -- appointed to be a US Senator. And his dream turned into a nightmare.
All of this drama because the Illinois Democrats didn't have the stones to do something about Blagojevich. Now, the Senate Democrats want to do something to show they don't approve of Blagojevich, so they want to punish ... Burris.
By law, the governor of Illinois has the sole authority to appoint Obama's replacement. The man he has named is to all appearances clean -- maybe one of the few Illinois politicians not under investigation for something. There is no legal, or really even ethical, reason to deny Roland Burris a Senate seat.
Hopefully Reid and company will decide to handle this matter honorably rather than punish Burris simply because he's the only one they can.
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3 comments:
Agreed. Now the Franken thing is another matter.
Franken is a very different thing. There is a legitimate debate, and the election is not officially settled. However, once the election is officially certified (as I'm sure it will be), he'll have every right to take his seat no matter how dirty the pool was.
I don't know that I really feel for Burris. He ran for the senate against Paul Simon and lost. He has also lost his bids for governor and mayor of Chicago. The voters of Illinois (of which I am one) felt that comptroller was the highest office he deserved.
On the other hand, Blago is still the governor and I think the people who voted for him (which includes me) deserve to pay the price for that choice, which may include the appointment of a reasonably honest but uncharismatic blowhard who may have trouble holding the seat for the Democrats in 2010.
On the other hand, the Feds have Blago on tape saying that he intended to sell the seat. I think that probably justifies some posturing by Reid.
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