Saturday, January 03, 2009
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Sorting Out the Burris Appointment
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Posted by:
Amanda Carpenter at
6:06 PM
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Hello, everyone! I'm back in DC as a newlywed and doing my best to sift through the fallout from Blagojevich's decision to appoint Roland Burris to Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat for some spots on Fox & Friends tomorrow am.
Here's the gist of it. Democrat Leadership is using the Illinois Secretary of State as their blocker to buy some time on this thing. IL SoS Jesse White has refused to co-sign the papers on the appointment and this helps Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid since he's adamantly opposed to the appointment. Senate Democrats might be able to use the Secretary's refusal to sign to refer the appointment to the Rules Committee where it could take up to 90 days to figure out what to do with Burris. In reality, the signature may or may not matter. Burris was appointed, albeit by a disgraced, but not convicted Governor. The junior senator to-be's fate is for the Rules Committee to figure out at their own sweet pace, though. Reid could even send it to the Rules Committee for review if Secretary White DOES end up signing the certification--which prompts a good debate on whether or not it's ethical for Reid to use the powers of the Senate to stop someone from becoming a senator that the establishment doesn't like...
Moving on. Reporters very excited about the possibility of a Senate showdown on Tuesday when Burris is expected to arrive in Washington. It'll be a media circus if Burris tries to strong arm his way to the Senate floor, although everyone involved seems to be downplaying the likelihood of this scenario. If he does try, Senate Democrats say they'll deploy the Sergeant at Arms and Capitol Police to stop him. Officials would detain Burris just like they would a Code Pink protester trying to sneak into the chamber. (Fun fact: Current Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer used to be the director of the Illinois State Police and knows Burris from his time at that post.)
Adding even more drama is the fact that Blagojevich is coming to town, too and no one could stop HIM from storming the floor since all governors have floor privileges and again, Blagojevich hasn't been convicted of anything. Leader Reid may be speaking face-to-face with Blagojevich in a meeting arranged by Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D.) that has discussed, but has not yet been confirmed.
Regardless, if Blagojevich is anywhere on the Hill he's going to be stalked by the entire Capitol Hill press corps. Judging from his last press conference, I'd say it's a safe bet he'll have some kind of newsworthy comments ready for them. Maybe more poetry excerpts if they're lucky.
Reid and Blagojevich will have a lot to discuss. Six days before Blagojevich was busted, Reid talked on the phone with the governor lobbying him NOT to appoint Illinois Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. or Rep. Danny Davis to the seat. (Reid's staff refuses to say who Reid WAS supporting.) Republican Senatorial Campaign Chairman Sen. John Cornyn (Tex.) has publicly called on Reid to explain why these two men--both black--should NOT have been appointed to the seat. The Black Panther's Bobby Rush threw on some more racial tones when he said Burris was being "lynched" earlier this week.
Meanwhile back in Illinois, state Republicans are trying to move fast to impeach Blagojevich and possibly have Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn make his own appointment to fill Obama's seat. That way, perhaps, the Senate could choose which one they wanted.
Burris's lawyer, Anthony White, however, vows he'll take this to court if Burris is not seated by the Senate. And, it looks like Burris would have a pretty good case.
Something like this came up back in 1969 when Rep. Adam Clayton Powell won his re-election over accusations of corruption. Kind of like William "Cold Cash" Jefferson, but unlike Jefferson, the House voted Powell out. The trouble was, Powell wasn't even charged with anything. Powell went to the Supreme Court in a case called Powell v. McCormack and won his seat back.
To successfully oust someone, the Constitution says it must be proven the questionable person lacks "qualification" in a manner according to the Constitution. Therefore, if Burris was seated and Reid wanted to get rid of him, Reid would need to get a 2/3rds vote in the Senate AND to show Burris is somehow unqualified to beat it out in court.
Whew, have you got all that? Basically, if I had to sum all this up I'd say this whole mess is a gray area that, for the time being, favors Blagojevich..which means lots of trouble and infighting for the Democrats.
The big question looming is "What is Obama going to say about this?" After all, it is HIS old seat.
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Great Summary of a convoluded issue. I still do not understand what legal grounds Reid has for rejecting Blogo's appointment. Legally, Blogo is innocent until proven guilty. He has not been charged with anything yet and Fitzgerald seems to need 90 days to do so. Subsequently, the business of serving he people must continue and Blogo is the guy who is responsibile for appointing the replacement. He is still being paid by taxpayers to work and he is doing his job. I would like to see Blogo join Burris on tuesday as they march into the senate. Blogo would use his privileges to take his case to the senate saying 'do not punish Burris' and the ability to serve this nation because you have a problem with the allegations made against me. Reid will sound like a fool if he makes this a federal case because Burris is both qualified and has the support of activists who see this as a 'lynching'. Republicans should not get involved in this fight. They should let the democrats self-destruct. And NO Obama will vote present and hope this goes aways quickly. Why? the wire tapping alone is what Obama opposed while in the senate, and this was when Bush was using them for foreign terrorists, imagine how badly Blogo's lawyer will use this position to crucify Obama if he implies that the wire tapping used to trap Blogo was legal. Whooooaaaaa! The next 4 years will have more drama than the 8 clinton years combined. And we have not touched Hillary's work as SoS yet and the ways in which she will weave a tangled web for Obama. |
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Blagojevich has the legal authority to appoint a replacement senator. When Senator Obama resigned his position to prepare to become President Obama, the situation was created to allow Blago to appoint a replacement. Period.
The Illinois Legislature COULD have prevented this. They could have passed a law creating a special election. They chose not to, because there was a slim possibility a Republican might win the seat. (This, of course, ignores the fact the IL-GOP is run by such a bunch of boobs that they couldn't run an effective campaign if they wanted to.) They were hoping that they could shame Blago into not appointing someone, by saying no one would even answer Blago's phone call, and Pat Quinn could appoint a Democratic loyalist to the post.
Now, there is no legal reason to ban Burris. He's more qualified than Caroline Kennedy, having served in several elective offices over the years. He has never been accused of corruption in a long career in IL public service (A true rarity in Illinois.)
The last time the Senate tried to bar a Senator from taking a seat was 1947, when Theodore Bilbo of MS was accused of intimidating black voters and taking bribes. (Wow, you mean once upon a time, the GOP stood up for clean government and civil rights? Imagine that!) The Democrats, in turn, filibustered on his behalf. Fortunately, Bilbo died before the issue could be resolved.
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I propose that Blago withdraw Burris and instead appoint Al Franken, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers, or Caroline Kennedy to Obama’s seat. If we are going to make this a circus, we need the clown car. Discuss!
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