Time For Roland Burris To Step Down-- And For Bernie Kerik To Start Serving Time

Isn't American Justice now just about all movin' on?

Roland Burris has voted really well since being appointed to the Senate by Rod Blagojevich. In terms of progressive issues, he's up there with Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Jeff Merkely (D-OR), the Senate's champions of working families. But Burris is more a champion of Roland Burris than of any families and every minute he's in the Senate is a blot on that already suspect institution of systemic corruption. A new secretly recorded transcript of a phone conversation between Burris-- looking to be appointed to the Senate-- and Blagojevich's brother-- looking to help his bro sell a Senate seat-- was released yesterday. In it Burriss offers Blagojevich money for the seat and frets about how bad it will look if the media finds out.

He was right. It looks bad. He should be removed immediately. Illinois has an exceptionally honest reform governor, Pat Quinn. I wish I could say the same thing about the state legislature but, unfortunately, it isn't that much different from other notoriously corrupt state legislatures like Texas', Florida's, Pennsylvania's and California's. This sounds like a job for Patrick Fitzgerald, far more from the hidebound, incumbent protection racket known as the Senate Ethics Committee.



And speaking of crooked politicians, Bernie Kerik was finally indicted. According to this morning's NY Times the Rudy Guiliani crony and bagman was "indicted on charges of making false statements to White House officials vetting him for the secretary's seat at the Department of Homeland Security in 2004."

Kerik, who served as commissioner from 1998 to 2002, allegedly gave false and misleading answers to Bush administration officials about his relationship with contractors who renovated his Riverdale apartment, according to the indictment handed up by a Washington grand jury.

Prosecutors allege Kerik received and concealed benefits of about $255,000 in renovations to his home from contractors seeking to do business with the city of New York.

Kerik's camp-- i.e., the never ending Giuliani campaign-- claims the Justice Department is out to get him and that this is just "the latest example of the Department of Justice's overzealous pursuit of high-profile public figures."