When then-governor Rod Blagojevich played the race card and nominated Roland Burris to be the replacement for Barack Obama in the US Senate, representing the State of Illinois, people blanched. At least I did. Although on the surface, Burris appeared to have qualifications: he served as attorney general and as comptroller for the state, he had run unsuccessfully for several state-wide offices, and he claimed to be clean. However, having been nominated by Blagojevich, everyone considered the nomination tainted, since the governor had already been indicted for trying to sell Obama's senate seat.
First, the Senate Democrats said they wouldn't seat Burris. Then they recanted. Some press revealed some not so pleasant aspects about him. For reasons we don't know, Burris was sworn in and seated on January 15, 2009.
After Blagojevich was impeached and convicted, Burris' story began to change. OK, Rod's brother might have asked him to raise money for Blagojevich's campaign, more than once actually. And now, today, Burris admitted that he even tried to raise money for the former governor.
What does this mean? On the same day that yet another Ponzi scheme was uncovered--the Stanford Financial Group out of Texas-- a mere $8 billion this time, President Obama signed the stimulus package into law which will haunt America through several generations, America's car industry announced job layoffs of 50,000, and the stock market fell nearly 300 points, America needs legislators we can trust.
Recently I've been struck by the desperation of some men's ambition, their need to leave an imprint on the world. When that ambition is solely self-centered and corrupting, then we can do without the imprint, please.
February 20 update: Burris' list of lobbying clients leaves out important names when he appeared at Rod' s impeachment hearing.
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