FREAK OF THE WEEK: U.S. Sen. Roland Burris

This week, the FredBlog shines the freaklight on U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, the Illinois Democrat who is now changing his story about his connections to disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Previously, I had defended then-Gov. Blagojevich’s ability to lawfully appoint Burris at a time when Blogo was under political fire for allegedly trying to sell the senate seat vacated by Barack Obama. By all accounts, Burris was an upstanding choice – and even those who hated Blagojevich did not have anything negative to say about Burris.

This past week, all that changed.

A large part of the reason why Burris was palatable to the naysayers was Burris’ assurances that he had nothing to do with Blogo’s alleged corruption and pay-for-play scandal. In fact, during Blogo’s impeachment trial, Burris specifically said he never had any contact with the governor or his associates regarding anything questionable.

But now Burris is changing his story. Last weekend, Burris released an affidavit in which he admits that Blogo’s brother Robert asked Burris to raise money for Blogo’s reelection campaign before Burris’ Senate appointment – three times!

Worse yet, Burris then told reporters, “There was no change of any of our testimony.”

So let me get this straight. Then, the line was: No contact with Blogo associates. Now, the line is: Contact with Blogo’s brother and other Blogo aides. Um, Roland, you better rethink that “no change of any of our testimony” bit.

The Chicago Tribune has called this Burris’ “evolving narrative.”

Burris is also trying to convince us that the content of the affidavit is irrelevant since he released it of his own accord, and not at the insistence of federal prosecutors. Nice try, but no one’s buying that, either. Illinois prosecutors have launched a perjury inquiry, the Senate Ethics Committee has opened an investigation, and more and more people are calling for his resignation.

Pierre Salinger, a California Democrat, is famous for passing away in office in 1964 after serving only 148 days as a U.S. senator. And Rebecca Latimer Felton served only one day as a senator from Georgia in 1922. So Burris could yet make history as having one of the shortest terms in the U.S. Senate.

Badly burying Burris

Senate Democrats should be ashamed of themselves, and Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is the shamer-in-chief.

On the day of the Senate’s swearing-in ceremony – celebrating Senate wins in red states like Alaska and North Carolina – Reid and his cronies turned their backs on Roland Burris, the man legally appointed to sit in the seat held until recently by President-elect Barack Obama.

I have already laid out why Burris is a good choice, but right now, that’s irrelevant. What matters is that the appointment of Burris is 100 percent legal. As Burris himself stated, his only crime is being appointed by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Reid’s excuse for not seating Burris is that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White has not signed off on the appointment. While it is true that White has not certified the appointment, that’s a red herring. The Illinois secretary of state does not have the legal power to block a gubernatorial appointment.

As Burris told CBS News: “As I read the U.S. Constitution, [the] governor shall fill a vacancy, and as a former attorney general of my state, I have no knowledge of where a secretary of state has veto power over a governor carrying out his constitutional duties.”

Oddly enough, Democrats don’t have a problem with Blagojevich’s power to order a special election to fill the seat held by Chicago Congressman Rahm Emmanuel, soon to be Obama’s chief of staff. To argue that Blagojevich can legally carry out his gubernatorial responsibilities regarding Emmanuel’s seat, but not do the same for Obama’s seat, is inconsistent, disingenuous, and dishonest.

Even Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the powerful California Democrat, has reportedly said that Senate Democrats do not have a legal leg to stand on regarding Burris. "Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes," Feinstein told Fox News. "If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America."

And after all, at the ceremony that turned its back on Burris, Joe Biden was sworn back into his Delaware senate seat that he will give up in two weeks time when he becomes vice president. If they can swear Biden in just so he can leave, certainly Reid and his buddies can welcome Burris to his rightful – and legal – place as the junior senator from Illinois.

Hate for Blogo getting in the way of good Senate pick

The state of Illinois – like the other 49 – deserves to be represented by two U.S. senators. But with Barack Obama resigning his Senate seat in order to assume the presidency, it falls to the governor to appoint a replacement until a special election can be held in 2010. The problem is that the governor is Rod Blagojevich, who is alleged to have tried to sell Obama’s seat to the highest bidder. But no matter how much you may dislike Blogo, he did the right thing by naming former state Attorney General Roland Burris as the next senator from Illinois.

This was a strong choice for a number of reasons. First, Burris is the right kind of senator under the circumstances. He has already proven that he has support statewide, having served as comptroller from 1979 to 1991, and then as attorney general from 1991 to 1995. (As opposed to Caroline Kennedy, who is trying to be the new Hillary Clinton in New York.)

Not only is he qualified and respected, but he is also likely to serve only until the special election. As he turned 71 this year, he would likely not run for re-election. This is good, since no candidate would then have the benefit of incumbency after only being appointed to the job.

As a bonus, Burris is African American. In fact, Burris made history as the first African American elected statewide in Illinois. At a time when Obama’s resignation will leave the U.S. Senate without any African-American representation, the choice of Burris is a wise one.

During a Blagojevich press conference announcing his choice, he said, “Please don’t allow the allegations against me to taint this good and honest man,” referring to Burris. Sadly, too many others are simply ruled by their hatred for Blagojevich – who may be smarmy, vulgar, and mentally unstable, but has yet to be found guilty of any wrongdoing.

In fact, Blagojevich initially did something that was even better than appointing Burris – he tried to get the state legislature to approve legislation that would take the power of appointment away from him and allow for a special election. But the Democratically controlled legislature, even though they are of the same party as the governor, refused Blagojevich’s request.

Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, also African American and a Democrat, added to the nonsense when he said that he would not certify the governor’s choice of Burris.

But if anybody hates Blagojevich more than his state’s legislature, it’s the nation’s. The Democratic leadership of the U.S. Senate released an open letter saying they would not seat anyone Blagojevich appoints. Even Illinois’ other senator – Dick Durbin – signed the letter, which read in part: “This is not about Mr. Burris; it is about the integrity of a governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat. Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus.”

Even Obama jumped on the bandwagon, stating that he agrees with Senate Democrats and that he just really wants Blagojevich to resign.

All this is simply political hatred getting in the way of good government.

OK, Blagojevich is a bad man. But no one questions Burris’ integrity or qualifications, and no one is arguing that Burris would be a poor choice for senator. So all these politicos with a hate on for Blogo need to put that aside for just a few minutes to allow the people of Illinois to have its other senator.