US News
Senator in Obama's vacated seat says he was asked for donations
Feb 15, 2009, 5:04 GMT
Washington - Illinois Senator Roland Burris, who filled Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat last month, acknowledged in documents made public Saturday that the state's governor's brother sought donations from him.
Burris, 71, claimed that he didn't respond to the request, which came in the months before his appointment as senator. He said in an affidavit that he refused the request as it 'could be viewed as an attempt to curry favour with him (governor) regarding his decision to appoint a successor' to Obama.
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was thrown out of office on January 29 by state legislators on criminal corruption misconduct charges that included a plot to sell President Obama's vacated US Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Federal agents arrested Blagojevich outside his Chicago home on December 9. They said wiretaps of phone conversations showed Blagojevich was exploring ways to profit or personally benefit by using his authority to appoint Obama's successor in the Senate.
Even after his arrest, Blagojevich remained defiant and appointed Burris to the Senate. Burris was not accused of any wrongdoing but the Democrats believed his appointment was not credible given the allegations surrounding Blagojevich. Burris was sworn in on January 15.
Burris' disclosure Saturday was different from earlier statements, including one under oath, about his interactions with the governor and those close to him. Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Illinois have demanded an investigation into whether Burris committed perjury.
According to the affidavit sent by Burris to the leader of the legislative committee that investigated whether to impeach Blagojevich, he said the former governor's brother, Robert, called him thrice in October and November, and sought his help in raising campaign funds for the governor, the New York Times reported.
Blagojevich was elected governor in 2002 and has been the subject of federal investigation for years. Illinois has long been considered among the most corrupt US states. If Blagojevich is convicted and sent to prison, he would become the fourth of the previous eight Illinois governors to serve time behind bars.
COMMENT
blog comments powered by DisqusLatest Headlines in US
- 1. Mitt Romney Addresses Tea Party Summit Pictures
- 2. Seven injured as US Navy plane crashes into apartments
- 3. At least three injured in US Navy plane crash
- 4. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, others to face death penalty trial
- 5. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, four others to face death penalty trial
Older Talkback
page: 1
not even the pea pod that spawned him.
You're all jealous of my incredible intellect. You're all ignorant and you hearts are full of doo-doo
lance is way better than the average american moron, like the guys above, hell bend on the ( Manifest destiny ), google it!
...of course he did not respond: He had surrogates respond and pay for it. And to think the dems want us to believe that Jack Abramoff was bad....makes him look like a shoplifter compared to Obama's crew.
'yes, this is the President...oh...hi Roland....yes, congrats....how's the new job...I know...it's hard being my slave....heh, heh....so what else is new?...Blago?...oh, he's out dirty'ing the jury pool as fast as he can...you know...crazy white person and all....no...have not talked to him(brother!...as if!)...'
'what?....no Roland....certainly not...you never ACTUALLY spoke to him..right?...welll...good Roland...yes...I know....others did though, right?....good man...can't perjer yourself in court....nooo...don't worry...this will all go away soon....how Roland?...welll...go read the Constitution and see who the AG works for, Roland (jesus...).....then ask yourself about his tax burden...and see who the IRS reports to....yes...just like the Clintons Roland...well after all...these ARE the Clintons Roland....good Roland...work on that...no Roland, you don't have to get back to me....bye Roland...BYE!'
'lance is way better than the average american moron,'
Just like you too, huh?
By the way you uneducated buffoon, the word is hell-bent.
The rest of your post continues in the same vein: utter clap-trap.
'Hell-bent:Impetuously or recklessly determined to do or achieve something: was hell-bent on winning.'
that he didn't have the money for the bribe.
...get to stay around after the con is finished!
Burris was a pick foisted on the country by Blago, who should have been disallowed from putting him forward. Sometimes, justice moves too slowly - and no one could find a valid legal reason to keep Burris out. This is not someone the Dem's wanted running in the next election.
Under the laws (which should be changed), Blago had the right to appoint Burris - and the Dem's (and Congress as a whole) had no recourse but to accept him, and just hope that he faded into the woodwork.
This could also happen with a GOP Governor, based on the laws of their State. It has nothing whatever to do with Obama, who no doubt wanted someone appointed by someone else - but had no legal grounds to interfere.
Blame the system, as it could happen to either Party. The GOP seems to specialize in sins by those already elected, such as Craig, the Senator from the men's room stall, who is still serving despite an arrest on a morals charge. And let's not forget Ted Stevens, whose ass Palin kissed at every opportunity.
And then, there's:
--------
President Obama's nominee for secretary of commerce, Sen. Judd Gregg, said yesterday that one of his former top staff members in his U.S. Senate office is under investigation in the Jack Abramoff gifts-for-favors scandal, but a White House spokesman said the New Hampshire Republican is not a target of the probe. An unnamed reference to Kevin H. Koonce, 37, who served as Gregg's legislative director and counsel for two years until 2004, appears in a plea deal filed in court last week, according to people familiar with the circumstances of the events described in the documents.
------
In early July 2007, David Vitter's phone number was included in a published list of phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates, a company owned and run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the 'D.C. Madam', convicted by the U.S. government for running a prostitution service. Hustler magazine identified the phone number and contacted Vitter's office to ask about his connection to Palfrey. The following day, Vitter issued a written statement:
This was a very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counseling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there - with God and them. But I certainly offer my deep and sincere apologies to all I have disappointed and let down in any way.
-----
The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centers on soliciting e-mails and sexually explicit instant messages sent by Mark Foley, a Republican Congressman from Florida, to teenaged boys who had formerly served as congressional pages. Investigation was closed by the FLDE on September 19, 2008 citing insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges. The scandal has grown to encompass the response of Republican congressional leaders to previous complaints about Foley's contacts with the pages and inconsistencies in the leaders' public statements. There are also allegations that a second Republican Congressman, Jim Kolbe, had improper conduct with at least two youths, a 16-year old page and a recently graduated page.
They miss dear old Miss Pggy down on the farm so they turn to the next innocent thing on the list: Congressional Pages.
And these butt f*ckers have the temerity to claim the moral high ground? I suppose Jesus told them it was OK by him, at the last tent covered Revival Meeting.
Come to Jesus. Here piggy, piggy, piggy....
please don't let lance find out about congressional indescretions. He's already on a rant about all the supposed ills, real and imagined. This just might overload his pea brain.
I've been out and I'm trying to understand what any of these posts above have to do with the article. Burris is scum, he got others to approach Blago and now is mired in crap for it. He's got whatever is coming to him. This is the President's guy and this is the President I plugged my nose and voted for. Man, change I can believe in.
I think (okay, I hope) that the age of meritocracy is now beginning to dawn. Merit not according to who you are, but according to what you have / you can / achieve.
Burris is representative of the old school of 'Professional Negroes'. It may very well be that they had their uses before the American people finally put a black man in the white house, but now these token politicians are yesterday's news. Give them a medal, put a plaque on each of their mausoleums. Bye.
There was that indigestible aura of menace in the way Burris's black cronies said : 'We put him there and we'll keep him there' ; as well as the way Burris himself oh-so-slyly played the race card at the beginning of this shadowy affair. Maybe hoping to intimidate someone, create a Mexican standoff, have a chance to slip in a few easy half lies quickly finessed into half truths later on...
His cronies are respected elders who, like him, are too old to reinvent themselves, so they deal with this situation the only way they know how. They threaten black unrest.
That's so lame. Go away. Catch an early train and go set Watts on fire or something.
Burris as senator is one thing. God knows there's a lot of ineffectual senators around.
Burris as a power grabbing liar is another thing, however. Nobody needs another power grabbing liar around, especially a bad, ineffectual one.
Paradoxically, he strikes me the same as another cheapo politico who is a world apart in many ways : Sarah Palin.
They both were catapulted in a freakish way to an office they are incompetent to hold.
They both have an overwhelmingly lame background that makes you wonder how they even dared to accept, or even attained the position they had in the first place.
They both have ardent backers that are somewhat... challenged, let's say.
Me, I'm just waiting for Burris to declare that he wants to 'Progress This Country!' (does anyone know what language that is?)
Anyway, watch out for the Palin-Burris ticket in 2012.
Spitfire
How do we know Burris didn't throw some greenbacks to Blagobribe for his Senate seat?
I gather there aren't enough investigators to go after all the politicians and corrupt artisans of the business realm who are running this country into the ground.
...he had an Attorney General who prosecuted Republicans and Democrats alike. From Abramoff to Williams, he just got em all. He actually told Bush once he was going to prosecute a Congressman and if he objected he could have his resignation.
Bush, of course, asked him if he had it with him...hehe, heh, heh...
The libnazi Congress dismembered him, before he could get any more of them.
His name was Alberto 'pinata'' Gonzales.
I'd suspect he even pays HIS taxes! You won't be seeing this kind of integrity for the next four years. Heck, Obama should hire Blago...his taxes are paid up!
page: 1
Come on LanceFeb 15th, 2009 - 07:30:17
This story has been here for a few hours and you haven't soiled it yet with your inanities. Where is the corruption rant. Where's the willfull ignorance whine. How about the muslim Holocaust caused by the American Jesus bombs. You could shovel some more of your aeronautical engineering advice. Where are you, Lance? We need your corruption cry of the outraged self-righteous. Yeah, we need it like we need you. That by the way, pin-head, was sarcsam, just in case you think you're loved. Which, by the way, you're not.
Report this comment