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| Burris Suggested Contribution Before He Was Appointed, Later Decided Against It |
| 2009-05-27 |
| Sen. Roland Burris was recorded on an FBI wiretap suggesting that he could write a check to former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign before the ousted governor appointed Burris to the Senate. The details of the conversation emerged after a federal judge said Tuesday he would allow the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee to hear a federal wiretap of the former governor's brother, Rob, having a fund-raising conversation with Burris. Rob Blagojevich was running the campaign fund at the time. During the brief conversation, Burris said he feared he would catch hell with the public and admitted contributions to Blagojevich would look bad, but also that he clearly wanted President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat. The 10 pages of transcript reveal a Burris who foresaw exactly why so many people would be outraged by the political dance he was doing with Rod Blagojevich. But as CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, Burris went right ahead and did it anyway. Sources tell CBS 2 the wiretapped phone conversation occurred on Nov. 18 while Blagojevich was still governor and before he named Burris to Obama's vacated seat. On the tape, Burris suggests that he could contribute, or have associates contribute, money to the Blagojevich campaign. Burris also expresses clear desire to be appointed to the U.S. Senate. Burris' lawyer, Timothy Wright told CBS 2 that after that conversation, Burris decided against making any contribution. "I think what it shows is he did not pay to play. And what he told was the truth. And I think that, if anything, this exonerates him, and hopefully take a step to repairing a reputation that I think was unfairly ruined," Wright said. In February, this is how Burris described what he told Robert Blagojevich when Rob called to ask Burris to help the governor's campaign fund: "I made it very clear to him that I would not contribute, that it would be inappropriate and a major conflict, because I had expressed an interest in the Senate seat," Burris said. But the FBI transcript tells another story. Burris did, indeed, express concern about how it would look to the public, telling Robert Blagojevich, when he called: "It has so many negative connotations that Burris is trying to buy an appointment... from the governor... for the Senate seat." At another point, Burris told Robert Blagojevich: "God knows, number one, I wanna help Rod. Number two, I also wanna, you know, hope I get that appointment." Rob Blagojevich: "If you guys can just write checks, that'd be fine." Burris: "I will personally do something, okay." Rob Blagojevich: "Okay. Alright, Roland." Burris: "And it'll be done before the 15th of December." Rob Blagojevich: "Hey, you're a good friend. I'll pass on your message." Burris: "Please do and... tell Rod to keep me in mind for that seat, would ya. (chuckles)" |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 Color me surprised. /sarcasm |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-05-27 07:37 |
| #1 Sounds to me like he weaseled, |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-05-27 05:17 |