CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
June 19, 2009 – 5:20 p.m.
Burris Wins Reprieve; One 2010 Obstacle Down
By Bart Jansen, CQ Staff
An Illinois prosecutor’s decision Friday not to charge Sen. Roland W. Burris with perjury removes at least one obstacle to a 2010 election bid for the Democrat.
Still, it remains far from certain whether Burris will decide to seek election to a full Senate term in 2010.
The Senate Ethics Committee is reviewing the circumstances surrounding Burris’ appointment by former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich , who faces criminal charges for allegedly trying to leverage his power to appoint a Senate successor to President Obama for personal and political gain.
The committee, which is conducting a preliminary inquiry akin to a grand jury investigation, hasn’t announced whether it will hold a public hearing into allegations that Burris offered varying accounts of his contacts with those close to Blagojevich.
“The Ethics Committee is on its own,” Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., said Friday. “I stay away from it.”
Political challengers are circling Burris, who has raised only $845 during the first three months of this year. Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill., has signaled that he wants Burris to stop down and would not support him if he decides to run in 2010.
Alexi Giannoulias, the Democratic state treasurer, has formed an exploratory committee to run for the seat. State Attorney General Lisa Madigan is also considering a Senate campaign, though she is also weighing a bid for governor. Madigan is expected to announce her plans in the next few weeks.
Madigan visited the White House on June 12. According to the White House spokesman, Obama was not endorsing any primary candidate for the seat.
On the Republican side, Rep. Mark Steven Kirk is mulling the race and is expected to announce his plans soon.
Burris — a Democrat whom Blagojevich appointed late last year before his own impeachment and removal from office — was accused of making conflicting statements about his contacts with the governor and his representatives in sworn statements and during testimony before the Illinois House impeachment committee.
Reid and Durbin had insisted on Burris testifying to the Illinois House committee as a condition of seating him because of the cloud over Blagojevich. The former governor has since been indicted on 16 felony counts arising from the federal corruption probe.
Burris’ varying accounts led to an investigation by Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Schmidt. But in a June 19 letter to Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, the father of the attorney general, Schmidt said “there is insufficient evidence to charge Sen. Burris with the offense of perjury.”
After playing down his contacts with those close to Blagojevich in a Jan. 5 affidavit, Burris acknowledged in testimony before the impeachment panel on Jan. 8 that he met with an aide to Blagojevich, Lon Monk, but didn’t mention other conversations. Schmidt said that while incomplete, it does not make the statement perjurious.
“The Illinois Supreme Court has consistently held the burden is on the questioner to pin the witness down as to the specific object of the questioner’s inquiry,” Schmidt wrote.
Asked by an Illinois lawmaker if he recalled other conversations about his interest in the Senate seat in mid-2008, Burris demurred. But Burris’ Feb. 4 affidavit described contacts with several people close to Blagojevich, including with the governor’s brother Rob.
The Ethics Committee asked federal authorities for a transcript of a Nov. 13 call that the FBI tape-recorded between Burris and Rob Blagojevich in which Burris reiterated his interest in the Senate seat, promised a contribution that never materialized and indicated he would help the governor raise money.
“It should be noted the affidavit was filed with the Special Committee long before Senator Burris knew his conversation with Robert Blagojevich was captured on tape,” the prosecutor wrote. “This fact supports Senator Burris’ claim the affidavit was meant to supplement the record while the tribunal was in session.”
Durbin has complained that Burris wasn’t fully forthcoming before being seated.
Burris, a former Illinois attorney general and the Senate’s only African American, welcomed the news from prosecutors Friday, calling Schmidt’s investigation “both thorough and fair.”
He said he was glad to put the matter behind him so he can work for the people of Illinois.
“I am glad that the truth has prevailed,” Burris, 71, said in a statement.
“This matter has now been fully investigated; I cooperated at every phase of the process, and as I have said from the beginning, I have never engaged in any pay-to-play, never perjured myself, and came to this seat in an honest and legal way.”
The question for the Ethics Committee is whether Burris’ initial failure to disclose his numerous contacts with those close to Blagojevich merits punishment ranging from censure to expulsion, which are very rare.
Durbin and Reid have each testified before the committee behind closed doors, but the panel has set no deadline for concluding its review.
Kent Redfield, a political scientist at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said Friday’s announcement would not improve Burris’ perilous political standing because too many Illinois voters view him as “Rod Blagojevich’s senator.”
“Public opinion is really frozen about him, and whether or not he committed perjury is probably not nearly as important as the fact that he certainly didn’t go out of his way talking to the House impeachment committee to lay out all of the details of his contacts prior to taking the appointment,” Redfield said.
“I don’t think it changes the context politically,” he added of Burris. “I think he’s got so much baggage and he’s going to have such a hard time raising money. I don’t know whether or not he’s going to run in the primary. I just don’t think he’s very viable.”
Kathleen Hunter and Greg Giroux contributed to this story.
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