Results tagged “burris”

Just as Senate Dems secured enough votes to open up President Obama's Health Care plan for debate, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris is headed for an early-week visit to troops in Iraq. Sen. Burris, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is part of a delegation that will, as an aide told the Tribune, "examine security and political developments in the region." Burris will be joined by Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, (both Oregon), Tom Udall (New Mexico) and Michael Bennet (Colorado), all fellow Dems. The delegation will return by Thanksgiving. Last week, Burris was cleared by a Senate ethics committee of any wrong-doing stemming from his testimony about his communications with then-governor Rod Blagojevich about the Senate seat he now holds, but it did earn him an admonition from the panel.

While we were watching Oprah, the Senate Ethics Committee charged with investigating alleged shenanigans pulled by Sen. Roland Burris leading up to his appointment to his current Senate seat by then-governor Rod Blagojevich officially cleared Burris. Issuing a Public Letter of Admonition (read the full letter after the jump), the committee cleared Burris of wrongdoing but before shaking its finger at him for actions that reflected "unfavorably" and scolded, "...you should have known that you were providing incorrect, inconsistent, misleading, or incomplete information to the public, the Senate, and those conducting legitimate inquiries into your appointment to the Senate." They then sent him to his room without supper and asked him to think about what he did.

It's exciting times in Illinois politics - and almost impossible to keep track of the players. The 2010 election, about eight months out at this point features three key races - and enough plot twists to keep even the most well-informed political junkie interested.

2010 is shaping up to be a free-for-all for the U.S. Senate seat that Roland Burris is currently keeping warm in Washington. But, finally, a politician has come out and said she will not run for the U.S. Senate: U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (who had way better seats at the Inauguration than we did). Instead, Schakowsky plans to run to keep her current U.S. House seat. She released a statement that said, in part, "I think the next two years present a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make progressive change. I want to devote my energy to help make these things a reality, and decided that I simply couldn't do it if I mounted a campaign for Senate."

Maybe Senator Burris shouldn't be so relaxed about the release of a taped conversation between him and the governor's brother. The Sun-Times' Natasha Korecki is reporting this afternoon that caught on tape is Burris - before the senate appointment - promising to write the governor a campaign check of $1,500, but Burris attorney contends it was not pay-for-play.

Have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

During Vice President Joe Biden’s Chicago appearance on Monday, Senator Roland Burris goofed during his introduction of fellow Senator Dick Durbin. According to the Sun-Times, Burris said, "And now, it is my pleasure to introduce the senior citizen from the great state of Illinois. Then, amid laughter, Burris corrected himself: "The senior senator. I did that at a committee hearing one time...I am older than him." After the event when Durbin was asked his age, he broke into a rendition of “When I’m 64”. Not to be outdone, Biden speaking at the University of Illinois at Chicago later was quoted as saying “All 32 of Chicago’s aldermen are in attendance.” Chicago has 50 aldermen. Post by Camela Furry

In spite of some serious financial woes, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris is still trying to raise money for a potential re-election bid in 2010 and says he'll make a decision on that race soon. Burris held his first fundraiser yesterday here in Chicago but the money he pulled from that event will go towards paying off his $111,000 in debt he's racked up so far since taking over the U.S. Senate seat once held by now-President Barack Obama. One aide told the Tribune they hope to have raised about $50,000 from yesterday's event. But there's even more debt for Burris as he claims he's also dug himself a $500,000 hole in legal fees.

Sen. Roland Burris and his wife had assets worth an estimated $906,000 to $1.8 million last year, according to a report Burris filed with the secretary of the U.S. Senate, which was provided to the Sun-Times before the document's public release next month.

The Saga of The Lord's Senator continues. While Burris continues to avoid the media following last month's affidavit revelation, there's still plenty happening in the Burris-sphere. Former Burris aide John Ruff was interviewed by Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt two weeks ago regarding Schmidt's perjury investigation of Burris. Ruff told the Sun-Times, "They made it pretty clear I was simply one person to get information from. They gave me no sense of how, when or if they were going to proceed...They wanted to hear what I had to say face-to-face based upon what was in the story you ran. They wanted to know what kind of documentation that I might have that could back up my version of events."

With Blago safely out of power in Illinois and awaiting indictment and trial, it would seem that Illinois can begin to move on from the hackneyed political soap opera that dominated the local news these past few years. But with Governor Pat Quinn quickly and quietly purging the state government of Blagojevich's people, and each new statement coming out of U.S. Senator Roland Burris's mouth potentially throwing more dirt on his political grave, the herd of ambitious Illinois pols that were eagerly lining up to make their move on Blagojevich may now be readying to run for the senate.

Sen. Roland Burris has had his hands full lately - working on the stimulus package and lobbying for Illinois funds - but according to an interview with WBEZ, the recently sworn-in senator has something else on his mind too: paying off debts. In an interview with Burris on Friday, WBEZ’s Richard Steele asked the junior senator from Illinois if he had decided to run in the 2010 election, noting that according to the Federal Election Commission, Burris signed a statement of candidacy on Jan. 2. “No that means I am in debt,” Burris responded. “I have legal bills, to the tune of $400,000.”

As Barack Obama's inauguration approaches, incoming chief of staff and former Fifth U.S. Congressional District rep Rahm Emanuel appeared on NBC's Meet The Press Sunday and talked the inauguration, the economy, and even Burris & Blago. To no one's surprise, Rahm maintained his insistence that he did nothing inappropriate: "As described in the document we made public, we talked in general about the, the right type of people that could be served as U.S. senator. And those are the conversations you would have with the chief of staff, and they're all the appropriate conversations." Check out video of the entire video below or, if you're the reading type, read the transcripts.

Cartoon for Chicagoist by Tim Daly

We got a pretty good laugh out of last night's Neil Patrick Harris-hosted SNL (though we - and by "we" we mean "I" - were disappointed with Taylor Swift's performance). And, of course, we weren't surprised to see the SNL kids give Blago and Burris the standard treatment. While we still don't get Jason Sudeikis' insistence on giving Blago an accent that he doesn't have, we love the way he portrays Blago as a straight-up asshole. Pretty funny stuff.