Video- Roland Burris Does Christmas Limerick To Blast Republicans On Obstruction

Video- Fox & Friends names health care "court": Lieberman the "king," Snowe the "queen," and Burris, "a royal pain in the neck"

As someone in comments at Media Matters says, "And tea baggers as court jesters"...

Sen. Roland Burris cleared, reprimanded by ethics committee

By GottaLaff

MSNBC is reporting that Roland Burris has been cleared. More from WaPo:

In a three-page "public letter of qualified admonition" issued Friday, the committee formally reprimanded Burris for statements -- some made under oath to an Illinois legislative committee -- in which he denied trying to raise any campaign contributions for indicted former governor Rod Blagojevich for his political committees. [...]

A letter of admonition is the mildest form of rebuke that the ethics committee can administer.

More here.

THE AUDIO: Burris and Blago

By GottaLaff

Burris and Blago sounds way too much like Beavis and Butthead.

Eavesdropping time:

Here's the audio from the federal wiretap of Roland Burris talking with the brother of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich about fundraising and the vacant Senate seat.

Judge OKs release of secret recordings between Burris, Blagojevich's brother

Just when you thought The Hair had been forgotten.

A federal judge today authorized the release of audio tapes of secret recordings of coversations between U.S. Sen. Roland Burris and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother to a Senate ethics committee.

Burris’ criminal lawyer, Timothy Wright, federal prosecutors and an attorney for Robert Blagojevich were in court this morning before U.S. Judge James Holderman, who handles grand jury matters.

Reporters were kicked out of the courtroom as the hearing was set to begin.

Before the hearing, Wright said, “the truth will finally come out,’’ in an apparent reference to recordings that took place last November and involve discussions between Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund chair Robert Blagojevich and Burris regarding fund-raising for the ex-governor.

$845

By GottaLaff

I think even I could raise this much. In fact, Paddy and I have raised about this much during one of our week-long fundraisers. It took Burris a whole quarter:

Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) reported raising just $845 during the first quarter of the year and had $111,032 in debts from defending himself in ongoing ethics and perjury probes, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Burris asking Senate Ethics panel for permission to open Legal Expense Fund

By GottaLaff

A Burris under our saddles:

Embattled Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) is asking the Senate Select Committee on Ethics for permission to open a legal expense fund [...]

The purpose for establishing the fund, according to the filing: "to pay for expenses incurred by the Senator in connection with his appointment to the US Senate on December 30th, 2008. Due to the controversy surrounding his appointment by former Illinois Governor Rod Balgojevich, Senator Burris incurred legal expenses to support his eventual swearing in on January 15th, 2009 in both Illinois and Washington, DC.

"In addition, even after he was seated, Senator Burris has continued to require representation amid accusations of perjury and other alleged improprieties relating back to his appointment to the senate seat."

Jim O'Connor, Burris communications director, said the Ethics Committee ruling on the permission request could take about four weeks, and no money can be raised in the meantime.

Burris told Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) that he has hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills; the amount could be as high as $400,000, according to the Burris camp.

I have a feeling that, if approved, he'll end up with about $1.50.

Roland Burris' Son Got Job from Blago

By GottaLaff

Toast, toastier, toastiest:

The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) "is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago," the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

"Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house."

Bye now.

Burris Will Not Resign, Will Not Run in 2010

By GottaLaff

The bad news and the good news:

Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) meets with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) today to attempt quell the storm surrounding his appointment to the Senate seat left empty by Barack Obama.

Lynn Sweet has the scoop: "Burris will also be sending, directly or indirectly (maybe this is it) two messages: he will not resign in the wake of the controversy surrounding his appointment by the ousted Gov. Blagojevich and he will not run for the seat in 2010. Burris has finally realized that not seeking election next year is the least price he will pay."

I'd like to personally thank him for the unnecessary distraction from much more important matters, and for enhancing the Democrats' image, all while providing cable outlets with weeks of entertainment. Sarcasm, folks.

Another Burris bombshell

By GottaLaff

Don't let the door hit you...

Burris Lobbying Disclosures Don't Add Up

CQ Politics has another Burris bombshell: "The names of lobbying clients that Sen. Roland Burris declared to a state legislative panel do not match those on records he filed over the last decade with Illinois and Chicago agencies."

Maybe he should start reading up on himself before he opens his big mouth.

Ethics Committee to investigate Burris

By GottaLaff

Inevitable:

The Senate Ethics Committee has opened a preliminary inquiry into Sen. Roland Burris’s (D-Ill.) conflicting testimony on the circumstances surrounding his appointment while Senate Democrats and Republicans take a wait-and-see approach to the potential impact on the 2010 election. [...]

“We know the Republicans are salivating, but I’m not sure they should be,” said the Democratic source. “This is far from the ‘Apocalypse of the Illinois Senate seat.’ “

A senior GOP aide dismissed that as “pure spin,” noting that Burris stridently insisted on being seated and has resisted any efforts to remove him ever since. And as investigations become possible at the state and federal levels, the aide said Burris will inevitably become more weakened.

“He’s not going anywhere, at least voluntarily, and any investigation won’t happen overnight,” said the GOP aide. “You can’t just remove a U.S. senator like they impeached the governor. This will take a while, and if anything, the Democratic infighting will further the divide over him. Look at what happened the first time he tried to enter the Senate.”

But several Democrats have expressed interest in the seat, even before news of Burris’ conflicting testimony on his contact with Blagojevich emerged. [...]

Two prominent Republicans are also weighing getting into the race. [...]

But first Burris will have to deal with potential state and federal investigations.

Burris Now Admits He Tried To Raise Money For Blago

By GottaLaff

Say good-bye to Burris:

Roland Burris has now admitted he tried to raise money for Rod Blagojevich, at the request of the former governor's brother.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

U.S. Sen. Roland Burris has acknowledged he sought to raise campaign funds for then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich at the request of the governor's brother at the same time he was making a pitch to be appointed to the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama.

Burris' latest comments in Peoria Monday night were the first time he has publicly said he was actively trying to raise money for Blagojevich. Previously Burris has left the impression that he always balked at the issue of raising money for the governor because of his interest in the Senate appointment.

More here.

This episode of As the Stomach Turns needs to finally end. In fact, cancel the entire series.

Note to Roland Burris: Shhhh.

By GottaLaff

When you're in a hole, stop digging:

Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) "trying to save his sinking Senate career, delivered a brief statement Monday morning where he argued he answered questions about the contacts he had with former Gov. Blagojevich team leading up to his appointment," Lynn Sweet reports.

Unlike the fiasco yesterday, Burris did not take any questions.

First Read says the new Burris revelations may be enough to: "(1) Seriously hurt Burris' chances of surviving primary challenges from strong Democratic challengers like Lisa Madigan, Jan Schakowsky, Jesse Jackson Jr. or others, and (2) Embolden those Democrats and give them prime oppo ammo."

Republicans hope the controversy allows them to win the Senate seat in 2010.

Yesterday, Jeff Toobin said that Burris hurt himself politically, but not legally. Whatever his problems, I still appreciated his smackdown of the press.

VIDEO: Roland Burris' warning to press was prophetic

By GottaLaff


An unedited video of the entire presser can be found here. My original post is here, which describes Senator Burris laying into the press, warning them that their sloppy reporting would result in a field day for Republicans out for blood (see video above). Guess what:

Politico notes Illinois Republicans "are calling on Burris to resign; he's facing a possible perjury investigation in his home state; and his Senate colleagues may face new pressure to launch an Ethics Committee probe to determine whether he should be expelled from the body."

Burris called it.

Roland Burris rips into the press

By GottaLaff

Following up this post:

Roland Burris was very combative at his press conference, and just swatted the reporters hard. He told them this is a non-story, and if they'd done their job correctly they'd see that. He then said that because of their reporting, the GOP could run with it, go to "some grand jury", when in fact, this is the end of the story, not the beginning.

Jeffrey Toobin: Burris has a political problem, not a legal one. His statement wasn't false, but voters may think he was downplaying his connections to Rod Blagojevich come election day. He was smart to come out and answer questions, and he meandered some, but he had to answer the accusations. His political viability may be in question. However, prosecution is a very, very remote possibility.

Senator Roland Burris facing perjury probe

By GottaLaff

Burris is going to do a Q and A at 3:30 pm CST:

U.S. Senator Roland W. Burris will make a statement and answer questions today regarding his supplemental affidavit to the Illinois House Impeachment Committee.

Why? Because of this:

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's brother solicited Sen. Roland Burris (D-IL) "for up to $10,000 in campaign cash before Blagojevich named Burris to the coveted post -- something Burris initially failed to disclose under oath before an Illinois House impeachment panel," the Chicago Sun Times reports.

Burris "acknowledges being hit up for the money in a new affidavit he has sent to the head of the House committee that recommended Blagojevich be removed from office."

However, in the affidavit, Burris said he refused to contribute to Blagojevich or to assist in fundraising for him.

What, this just came to him? This story will never go away, will it? We're all stuck in Blago-Burris Hell.

NBC/WSJ Poll- Obama still soaring

Because Clancy was getting antsy.

Despite the Blagojevich mess, the ordeal over whether to seat Burris in the Senate, and Bill Richardson's withdrawal as Commerce secretary, the American public continues to overwhelmingly approve of Obama's transition, according to the latest NBC/WSJ poll.

Seventy-one percent say they approve of the president-elect's transition, which is virtually unchanged from December.

Also in the poll, a combined 74 percent believe that the recession will last at least another year -- and likely longer than that. Fifty-seven percent it will be over in one to three years, while another 17 percent say it will go on for more than three years.

The rest of the NBC/WSJ poll will be released at 6:30 pm ET on NBC Nightly News and MSNBC.com.

The Burrisator

By GottaLaff

Josh Marshall:

Can we put Sen.-designate Burris in charge of devising strategy against the senate Republicans?

He's clearly the only Democratic Senator who knows how to play politics and win.

Breaking Yawn- Burris to be seated as Senator

Whatev. Really, this is the Illinois version of Chinese water torture. Drip, drip, drip. And if there ever was a better example of how truly awful a Majority Leader Reid is, I don't know of it.

WASHINGTON--Roland Burris won his battle to succeed Barack Obama as the junior senator from Illinois this afternoon as Senate lawyers agreed that he met the chambers rules and could be seated.

"Barring objections from Senate Republicans, we expect Senator-designee Burris to be sworn in and formally seated later this week," said a joint statement from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin.

SNL Opener- Roland Burris

Poor Rachel.