Originally Posted By vbdad55 Change in Burris' story? SPRINGFIELD | Appears to contradict affidavit saying he hadn't spoken to representative of gov about Senate seat Recommend (10) Comments January 9, 2009 BY DAVE MCKINNEY AND JORDAN WILSON Sun-Times Staff Reporters SPRINGFIELD -- A potentially troublesome new detail emerged about Roland Burris' controversial U.S. Senate appointment Thursday after a state House panel voted unanimously to recommend Gov. Blagojevich be impeached. For the first time, Burris indicated that he asked Blagojevich's former chief of staff and college classmate, Lon Monk, to relay his interest in the Senate seat to the governor last July or September. Roland Burris is sworn in Thursday before the House impeachment panel. (AP) "If you're close to the governor, you know, let him know I'm certainly interested in the seat," Burris said he told Monk. That testimony appears to differ from an affidavit Burris submitted to the impeachment panel this week in which he stated he spoke to no "representatives" of the governor about the Senate post prior to Dec. 26. Federal prosecutors, who identified Monk as "Lobbyist 1" in their criminal complaint against Blagojevich, indicated they tapped Monk's phone in November as Blagojevich moved to fill President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat. Whether the new Monk detail poses any threat to Burris' efforts to persuade Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to allow him to be seated isn't clear, but Republicans on the state impeachment panel see a contradiction. "There is an inconsistency between his testimony and the affidavit," said state Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs). "I'll leave it to Sen. Reid to determine what value that has to their process." Burris' lawyer, Timothy Wright, said it was improper to consider Monk a "representative" of the governor -- the language used in Burris' affidavit -- since Monk no longer was on the state payroll when he and Burris spoke last year. Burris "was talking to him as a friend and expressing his interest," Wright said. "He wasn't talking to him as a representative of the governor." Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) did not weigh in on whether Burris had passed the test to lay claim to the state's vacant Senate seat. "Roland Burris has now testified, and we will carefully review that testimony," Durbin said. The full state House is expected to vote today on the panel's recommendation to impeach Blagojevich. Blagojevich's office blasted the 21-0 panel vote, calling the outcome a "foregone conclusion" and predicting a "much different" outcome in the state Senate, where a trial would be held. "The governor believes that the impeachment proceedings were flawed, biased and did not follow the rules of law," the Blagojevich statement said.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Well, I'm still trying to understand why anyone with an ounce of integrity would make a call to Blagojevich or take one from him after his indictment, much less accept an appointment from him to be senator. Burris allegedly may have had a clean resume, but it could be because he was just never caught before, either.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 Have to ask Harry Reid also what he was thinking calling him and talking about the appointment also. I don't like the guy but I thought he was smarter than that and we'll find out in the impeachment hearings is Rahm Emmanuel and Valerie Jarrett ( who was rumored here to be getting that seat for a long time ) are rowing in that same DOH ! boat...
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Well, I'm still trying to understand why anyone with an ounce of integrity would make a call to Blagojevich or take one from him after his indictment, much less accept an appointment from him to be senator. > Well, that story says that Burris didn't call him directly, but asked their mutual friend to inform Blago of Burris's interest. And that it was in July or September, well before Blago's indictment. Why he accepted the appointment, which came afterward, is another story. From what I know of the guy, I think he accepted because he's always been very ambitious, and he realized this was probably his only shot at being a US Senator. Didn't he lose as many (or more) elections as he won, over the years? At least one guy has said he was offered it by Blago and turned it down, so Burris wasn't his first choice; I imagine Burris knew this was his one shot, and he took it.
Originally Posted By DAR <<<<Looked at the thread title and thought vb was referring to this Channing: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6g929abIrs" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...929abIrs</a>
