CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– ETHICS
Updated Feb. 19, 2009 – 1:18 p.m.
Burris’ Lobbying Disclosures Don’t Add Up
By Bart Jansen, CQ Staff
The names of lobbying clients that Sen. Roland W. Burris declared to a state legislative panel do not match those on records he filed over the last decade with Illinois and Chicago agencies, a CQ analysis of the records has found.
The discovery comes as Burris, an Illinois Democrat, is fending off calls for his resignation for failing to fully explain his dealings with impeached former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who appointed him to succeed President Obama. The Senate Ethics Committee also is looking into discrepancies in his statements to the Illinois House Impeachment Committee.
Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , a fellow Illinois Democrat, suggested that the Ethics Committee should also probe Burris’ lobbying activities.
“Every day there are more and more revelations about contacts with Blagojevich advisors, efforts at fundraising and omissions from his list of lobbying clients,” Durbin said in a statement from Turkey, where he is on a congressional trip. “These news reports and the public statements by Roland Burris himself are troubling and raise serious questions which need to be looked at very carefully.”
Durbin and Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., had balked at seating Burris in January as an appointee of Blagojevich until he testified at a Jan. 8 Impeachment Committee hearing on the former governor demanding fundraising or other favors in exchange for the post. Blagojevich was later removed from office, but maintains his innocence in a criminal investigation.
In a Feb. 5 submission to the committee, Burris listed 26 clients dating to 2003.
But the filing contains discrepancies with documents filed with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office and with the Chicago Board of Ethics. A number of clients are listed only in either the legislative filing or in the agency records.
For example, records with the secretary of state show Burris representing the Council of Independent Tobacco Manufacturers of America from 2003 to 2005 and the Illinois Association of Mortgage Brokers in 2007. But those clients don’t appear in his filing with the Impeachment Committee.
Democratic state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, who headed the impeachment committee, said her staff hadn’t had a chance to review his filings yet, but that they would. She said, however, that discrepancies in Burris’ testimony were no reason to disqualify him as a senator.
“I thought we were just looking at loose ends,” Currie said. “For example, the response that I had from Sen. Burris, I thought was just answering a couple of questions for the committee. I had no idea there was a bombshell in there.”
Burris has maintained that he’s done nothing wrong, and asked the public to withhold judgment. Calls to Burris’ lawyer, Timothy W. Wright III, who submitted the declaration to the legislative panel and to Burris’ former lobbying firm, Burris & Lebed Consulting LLC, were not immediately returned.
Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Schmidt, the local prosecutor in Springfield, Ill., where Burris testified, is investigating his statements for possible criminal charges such as perjury.
At the Jan. 8 hearing, state Rep. Jim Durkin, the ranking Republican on the panel, asked Burris specifically whether he had contact with the governor’s brother or several close confidants.
At the time, Burris brushed aside the question before acknowledging contact with one of the men Durkin named.
But in his affidavit Feb. 14, Burris described multiple contacts with the former governor’s brother, Rob Blagojevich, and three of the confidants Durkin had named.
The Senate Ethics Committee, which typically doesn’t comment on pending cases, could take no action or recommend to the full chamber punishment ranging from a rebuke to removal, which would require a two-thirds vote.
The Senate has expelled only 15 of its members in history. All but one was for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War, and the other was for treason in 1797. Even among five senators convicted of crimes, one died with his case pending before the Senate, three quit before the Senate could act on their expulsion and one lost his bid for re-election.
Meanwhile, Durkin has called for Burris’ resignation, as have Reps. Phil Hare and Jan Schakowsky , both Democrats from Illinois.
The president hasn’t yet commented on the case. Press secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday that Burris was seated based on his statements to the legislature and voters deserve to know the extent of his involvement with Blagojevich.
“I think that’s likely to come out as part of some of the investigations that are now ongoing,” Gibbs said. “I’m not going to get ahead of investigations and say anything like that yet.”
First posted Feb. 19, 2009 9:15 a.m.




Comments
"I've done nothing wrong and I have nothing to hide." , said Burriss. Those are almost the exact same word Blago used and look at where he's at. Impeach this slime ball, lying weasel now. He NEVER should have been sworn in the first place
The Senate couldn't throw out Ted Stevens even after he was convicted on felony charges. There's not much to do about Burris except pressure him to resign, then try to primary him out in 2010.
Unless US Attorney Fitzgerald has any basis to indict/arrest Burris, Burris is in the Senate for the next year and a half. Hell Fitzgerald still has not indicted or filed a criminal complaint against Blagojevich. If the Senate appointment was ongoing crime that forced Fitzgerald to arrest Blagojecih prematruely, the question has to be where's the beef. All we've got now is some theatrical dialogue.
The one positive here is that Burris, a career political hack who mediocrity is exceeded only by his ego, is watching his reputation be destroyed before his eyes. Richly deserved.
"One is (often) judged by the company he keeps". "When you lie down with dogs you end up with fleas"...Enough said.
Don't ya think that these IL politicians are all walking on egg shells for fear that they may get caught up in whatever comes out this crooks mouth? Why the hesitancy.....it has to be more than they needed the vote on the PORK package. Sooner or later, someone is going to get lonely out there in the netherlands and they will want company. Hopefully, this guy hasn't written this appointment in stone, if you catch my drift.
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