"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Time For Roland Burris To Step Down-- And For Bernie Kerik To Start Serving Time
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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."
Corruption-- The One Thing In Politics That Really Is Bipartisan
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Today's Chicago Sun Times broke a story about Illinois corruption that looks, on the surface, pretty dire for Roland Burris and his ill-conceived bid to cling to the Senate seat then-Governor Rod Blogojevich appointed him to fill. It's more disigenuousness from our despicable and corrupt political class, the most bipartisan thing about American politics.
The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10-- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house.
...Burris II's hiring, however, raises more questions about Sen. Burris' interactions with Blagojevich and his inner circle at a time when the governor was soliciting Sen. Burris for campaign contributions and Burris was angling to have Blagojevich appoint him to the Senate seat once held by President Obama.
Despite the efforts of the good guys-- Tom Geoghegan has just filed suit to have Burriss removed from the Senate--sometimes it looks like the Democrats are working like mad to catch up with the Tom DeLays, Denny Hasterts, Duke Cunninghams, Roy Blunts, and Jerry Lewises of the world. That will be hard because the GOP will always be one step ahead of them when it comes to corruption, something that they actually believe in as an ideological good-- stealing from the "damn government" and the law of the jungle, both part of the GOP Ten Commandments.
Just a few hours ago the NY Times reported another major Republican indictment, one that should sear McCain, Giuliani, the whole Florida Republican establishment, and a gaggle of wingnut politicians all over the country, from Richard Burr in North Carolina and Richard Shelby in Alabama to NRSC chair John Cornyn of Texas. Yesterday federal prosecutors got an indictment against a sleazy Jordanian "businessman," Ala'a al-Ali, who has been funneling large amounts of money to Republican Party politicians through one of the most corrupt Republican Party fundraisers in the country, Harry Sargeant III. Until recently Sargeant, who has-- along with his immediate family (people living and working at the same addresses as him)-- given hundreds of thousands of dollars to a roster of right wing crooks, from shady characters like the Diaz-Balart Brothers, Connie Mack, Tom Rooney, Richard Burr and Cass Ballenger to nationally prominent Republicans like John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Charlie Crist. Sargeant pumped more than half a million dollars into McCain's failed campaign last year, funneled tens of thousands of dollars into Giuliani's campaign, most of it illegally and was recently forced to resign as the treasurer of the scandal plagued Florida Republican Party.
Sargeant was the go-between for corrupt Arabs trying to buy influence from McCain and other right-wing leaders. And although there were small amounts that were given to Democrats as well, the vast majority of the money that went through Sargeant and al-Ali went to Republicans, usually extreme right wing ones. Richard Burr and Richard Shelby, two blowhard obstructionist Republicans who took tens of thousands of dollars from Sargeant, are refusing to return the money.
UPDATE... AND THEN THERE'S NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATOR JUDD GREGG
AP broke the story today about how Gregg and his brother stand to make a bundle based on one of his earmarks. The sleazy Republican hypocrite "personally has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in Cyrus Gregg's office projects at the Pease International Tradeport, a Portsmouth business park built at the defunct Pease Air Force Base, once home to nuclear bombers. Judd Gregg has collected at least $240,017 to $651,801 from his investments there, Senate records show, while helping arrange at least $66 million in federal aid for the former base."
He says he didn't break any laws. They always say that; think back to Duke Cunningham, William Jefferson, Bob Ney and Tom DeLay. After all, they write the laws and the loopholes and know how to steal taxpayer money without putting themselves in jeopardy. It does now appear that this is the reason why he "decided" to withdraw his name as a Cabinet appointee.
Even if Dems own up to the IL Senate mess, there's really not much they can do about it, unlike Republicans, who could end the MN mess anytime
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Can anyone get Illinois Sen. Roland Burris to quit? Well, can anyone get the GOP legal thug patrol to allow Minnesota's Al Franken to take his Senate seat?
by Ken
"Roland Burris, resign."
That's the headline on the editorial in today's Chicago Tribune, which begins:
The benefit of the doubt had already been stretched thin and taut by the time Roland Burris offered his third version of the events leading to his appointment to the U.S. Senate. It finally snapped like a rubber band, popping him on that long Pinocchio nose of his, when he came out with version four.
Let's see if we have it right: Burris had zero contact with any of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's cronies about his interest in the Senate seat being vacated by President Barack Obama—unless you count that conversation with former chief of staff Lon Monk, and, on further reflection, the ones with insiders John Harris, Doug Scofield and John Wyma and, oh yeah, the governor's brother and fundraising chief, Robert Blagojevich. But Burris didn't raise a single dollar for the now ex-governor as a result of those contacts because that could be construed as a quid pro quo and besides, everyone he asked refused to donate.
[and so on and so on and so on]
There's been a lot of finger-pointing as to who could have done what to avoid this mess, and I guess it's true that the Illinois state legislature could have moved faster on impeachment, trying to reserve the Senate appointment to Gov.-to-be Pat Quinn, but could they have prevented Gov. Rod Blagojevich from making an appointment? And maybe Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats could have delayed seating Burris long enough for, well, something to happen.
The Trib editorial reproaches the legislature for not at least scheduling a special election. ("If they had done that, voters today might be weighing the lost credibility of candidate Burris, instead of expressing their disgust with Sen. Burris.") But in the end there wasn't much anyone could have done, given one reality beyond anyone else's control: Governor Blagojevich's startling insistence on hanging tough, metaphorically chaining himself to the governor's chair until the guards finally came and chucked him out of the statehouse.
I've got this bad feeling that the new round of speculation regarding Senator Burris's continued tenure is going to be similarly fruitless; he doesn't show any sign of being prepared to go quietly. And here the end game is foggier, with nothing comparable to Blagojevich's impeachment in prospect. Speculation now focuses on the possibility that "Prosecutor Pat" Fitzgerald may have some disclosures to disclose, presumably from his taped collection of the Best of Blago, which may unjam the logjam.
Democrats have to own up to their mess, but they're isn't much they can do beyond trying to help Senator Burris see that ultimately he's doomed. This is in marked contrast to the situation in Minnesota, where Republican officials know they've lost but clearly have any intention of giving up on their naked power play. They all know that former Sen. Norm Coleman isn't returning to he Senate except perhaps as a visitor. But if that "R" vote is lost, they clearly do have the power to prevent it from turning "D" anytime in the immediate future.
When it was Coleman who appeared to have a minuscule lead in the 2008 election vote-counting, the senator couldn't have been clearer or more vocal about what came next: The only honorable course was for Democrat Al Franken to concede. Then the Minnesota elections people did a heroic job of establishing as good a vote count as they're going to get, and while it obviously was close, it went the other way, and Coleman developed amnesia with regard to those pretty principles of his. (Well, the now-former senator has always had a shaky relationship with principle. He'll be a Democrat or a Republican, a liberal or a conservative, whatever serves his immediate interest.)
Buttressed by the whole League of GOP Thugs (Hon. John Cornyn, Your NRSC Thugmaster), Coleman and his enforcers have made it clear that they will do whatever they have to do, whatever it costs, to prevent Franken from taking the seat to which he was elected, however narrowly, for as long as they can. "It's what we do," I'm sure the Republithugs are thinking. "We're the Party of No."
UPDATE: PLAY "SEAT THE SENATOR!" ON BUZZFLASH
While visiting Bluestem Prairie for our next Minnesota-related post, we found a heads-up on BuzzFlash's "Seat the Senator!" contest, in which all you have to do is guess correctly the date on which Al Franken takes the oath of office in the Senate. You simply leave your guess in a comment on Meg's post updating the Minnesota election mess, using your BuzzFlash username (if you're not already signed up, sign-up is free), by 11:59 p.m. CT, Feb. 28, 2009.
The Gopher State-appropriate prize is the Coen Brothers Movie Collection, "which includes five DVDs of the Minnesotan sibling duo's critically-acclaimed films: Fargo, Barton Fink, Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing, and Blood Simple."
Another Republican Senator Calls It Quits After Helping Bush Bring The Country To Its Knees-- Who Will Replace Voinovich?
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Although George Voinovich had been elected a state representative and, in 1978, Ohio's Lt. Governor, his debut on the national scene didn't really come until he resigned as Lt. Governor after one year to run against-- and beat-- Cleveland Mayor Dennis Kucinich. Later, after a disastrous run for the U.S. Senate in 1988, Voinovich was elected Governor of Ohio. My own awareness of him came because of the tremendous support (both as mayor and governor), to the tune of $65 million, he offered the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Since 1999 he has been a U.S. Senator and, at least in the beginning, was one of the Republicans most willing to vote with the Democrats on behalf of working families. (Right wing fanatics still haven't forgiven him.) And you may recall that he broke with the far right by refusing to back Bush's choice of extremist sociopath John Bolton as UN ambassador.
Today Voinovich announced that he would retire from the Senate after finishing his second term in 2010. Demographic and political trends, as well as recent polls, showed that he would probably lose a bid for a third term. His excuse for skipping out on the job?
"I have never seen the country in such perilous circumstances. Not since the Great Depression and the Second World War have we been confronted with such challenges, as a nation and as a world," Voinovich said. "I must devote my full time, energy and focus to the job I was elected to do, the job in front of me, which seeking a third term-- with the money-raising and campaigning that it would require-- would not allow me to do."
OK... I hope some of his GOP colleagues come to identical conclusions, particularly obstructionist extremists like Jim DeMint (R-SC), David Diapers Vitter (LA), Judd Gregg (R-NH), Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Tom Coburn (R-OK). But what's on everyone's mind now is who's going to be Ohio's next U.S. Senator?
There are four likely Republicans eyeing the seat: Bush's spectacularly failed Director of the Office of Management and Budget (as well as inept U.S. Trade Representative), ex-Congressman Rob Portman; John Kasich, another former Republican congressman, although he had been gearing up to run a hopeless campaign for governor; defeated ex-Senator Mike DeWine; and former vote-stealin' Secretary of State, the much-loathed Ken Blackwell. Four complete losers. The Democratic Party's most likely nominee is Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, although popular Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, who did a decent job cleaning up after Blackwell, is also a top contender. There are also four members of Congress considering the race, 2 progressives (Betty Sutton and Mary Kaptur), a moderate (Tim Ryan) and a reactionary whose voting record looks suspiciously Republican (Zack Space). And what about Paul Hackett? [UPDATE: Paul's not interested, according to a mutual friend.]
UPDATE: SENATE "LEADERSHIP" BACKTRACKS ON BURRIS... AGAIN
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Illinois senior senator and Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin said in a Monday statement that the Senate would accept the credentials of Roland Burris. He should be sworn in later this week. I wonder if Reid is embarrassed. Even Oklahoma kook Jim Inhofe likes Burris! They wound up having dinner at the Monocle and afterwards Inhofe said “I was very much impressed with him. From my little, meager research, I thought, ‘This guy looks like Senate material’.”
And you know that Florida Senate seat Mel Martinez is giving up in 2010? The one Jeb isn't running for? It looks like Rep Kendrick Meek will be announcing his candidacy tomorrow.
Four Senate Democrats are moving up in the DC pecking order-- Barack Obama (IL), the new President, Joe Biden (DE), the new Vice President, Hillary Clinton (NY), the new Secretary of State, and Ken Salazar (CO), the new Secretary of the Interior-- the most unscheduled openings since 9 senators died during Eisenhower's first term. And then there's the still not 100% resolved Minnesota race.
Ex-Senator Norm Coleman was narrowly defeated by Democrat Al Franken (by 225 votes out of over 2,900,000 cast). After endless counting and recounting, Coleman is dissatisfied with the outcome and is now suing to try to overturn his defeat. Minnesota politicians across the political spectrum are urging Coleman to give it up and think of the state instead of himself for a change.
Former Republican Gov. Arne Carlson said today that Norm Coleman should consider bowing out of the U.S. Senate election dispute.
"I don't think it's winnable," said Carlson, who served from 1991-99.
He said a court fight by Coleman contesting a recount that favors Democrat Al Franken could hurt the Republican's image.
"I think there will be a tremendous amount of public anger, I think it will hurt his reputation," Carlson said. "I think he's got to get on with his life. .. At some point you've got to recognize, it is over."
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter's fast decision to appoint Michael Bennet, although not without disagreement, was smart in terms of getting it over and done with, with the least drawn out public agony. By the time observers started pointing out that Bennet's approach is more right-wing and reactionary than a Democrat's should be-- or that America needs at this time, the nomination was a fait accompli.
The Delaware situation may be the next smoothest but even that one is odd. Our new egomaniac VP, was intent on being sworn in as a senator for the 7th time. That means his appointed successor (and chief of staff), Ted Kaufman, will have less seniority than freshmen senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mark Begich (D-AK), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the Udall cousins (D-NM and D-CO), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Kay Hagan (D-NC), Mike Johanns (R-NE) and James Risch (R-ID).
After weeks of speculation, Biden's office announced Tuesday that he would resign from the seat Jan. 15, five days before he takes the oath of office as vice president. His former chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, will be appointed to serve in Biden's seat until a 2010 special election.
Biden chose to extend his Senate service even after President-elect Barack Obama resigned from his Senate seat shortly after the election. His friends said taking his final Senate oath was important to him.
"He wants to be able to tell his grandchildren he did it," said Mark Gitenstein, a Biden adviser who previously served on his Senate staff. "I just know that he feels it's important. He's told me that. I've been in meetings where he said, 'I really want to do this one last time.' "
Kaufman, 69, is widely considered a placeholder for Biden's son Beau (in the 2010 special election) who couldn't take the job just now because he's serving in Iraq.
In New York, Governor Paterson has seemed far more interested in finding a good, balanced running mate for his own 2010 re-election than for the best person to represent New York in the Senate. If he wanted to put the best person in the Senate he would have decided on Rep. Jerrold Nadler and that would have been that. Instead, he decided to play the role of ringmaster in a creepy circus. He dredged up the extremely unaccomplished (but certainly "nice" enough) Caroline Kennedy, although there has been so much opposition inside political circles that the nomination seems to be slowing down a bit. Apparently only the children of political dynasties are eligible.
Of course, the most dysfunctional situation of all is in Illinois, where a corrupt Gov. Blagojevich tried selling the seat and-- after being arrested-- suddenly decided to make a really good appointment. Jane Hamsher, in explaining why she'd love to play poker with Harry Reid, explains how Reid has shown anyone who's still wondering why he's just not the right person to serve as Senate Majority Leader. It now looks like Reid is backing away from his embarrassing position against seating Roland Burris. At least he knows where he stands on convicted felon Ted Stevens. Rachel Maddow on all this: video.
No wonder both Jeb Bush (R-FL) and Chris Matthews (D-PA) have taken themselves out of contention for 2010 Senate races!
UPDATE: KIT BOND (R-MO) WON'T SEEK RE-ELECTION IN 2010
Missouri's senior senator, the very conservative Kit Bond, announced this morning that he won't be seeking re-election. He served in the Senate since 1986 (after two terms as Missouri's governor) and has generally been a complete tool for Big Business and is "credited" with pushing Bush's unconstitutional and highly controversial FISA and torture legislation through the Senate. He's generally considered an asshole on both sides of the aisle. Secretary of State, Robin Carnahan and Congressman Russ Carnahan are both interested in running. Bond joins Sam Brownback (R-KS), Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) in announcing early retirement plans-- and dooming the GOP to another disastrous cycle, especially if Voinovich (R-OH) follows suit.
Yesterday's Hill made a point about how the Republican Party is still a bastion of throwback racism and this morning's Washington Post feature on the race for the chair of the Republican National Committee paints a pretty sad picture of how bigoted the Party of Lincoln has become now that it is utterly dominated by the old slaveholding states (+ the Mormons).
The Democratic Party, on the other hand, has been a champion of racial equality, right? Well... kind of... at least after the sixties. The spectacle of the Senate Democrats blocking-- perhaps physically and apparently illegally-- newly appointed Illinois Senator Roland Burris, an African American Democrat, from taking his seat in the Senate is somewhat dismaying. What makes it more dismaying is that Harry Reid, who looks more and more like a pathetic chump by the day-- and really should step down as Majority Leader-- called Governor Blagojevich and urged several white candidates on him and expressly told him to not appoint any of the leading African-American candidates.
Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.
Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis — both democratic congressmen from Illinois — and against Jones-- the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama-- because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election.
Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero confirmed that Reid (D-Nev.) and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)-- the new chief of the Senate Democratic political operation-- each called Blagojevich’s campaign office separately Dec. 3. Sources believe that at least portions of the phone conversations are on tape.
What makes Tammy Duckworth, who has never won an election to anything, "electable" and Jesse Jackson, Jr., for example, not electable? Nevada voters have never elected an African-American to any statewide offices but Illinois voters certainly have. In November Jackson won re-election with 89% of the vote, the highest percentage of any Illinois incumbent from either party. IL-02 is about 60% African-American so apparently he has some appeal to non-African-American voters as well. As for Duckworth... what is she aside from a creature of Rahm Emanuel who-- like Emanuel himself-- was used to derail a progressive candidate? (They both won bitter primaries with bundles of cash.) Unlike Emanuel, though, Duckworth lost her general election race, despite outspending her Republican opponent $4,556,495 to $3,302,702, virtually all of that coming through the good graces of Emanuel, who sacrificed at least 3 viable Democrats around the country so he could funnel DCCC money to Duckworth's useless campaign. But Harry Reid has decided she is viable? Because she's white? A pro-war Emanuel puppet? What the hell is this all about? Has Reid lost his marbles? (On Meet The Press today he said he's not a racist and that Blagojevich is a liar.)
CHICAGO (Dec. 30) – Defying U.S. Senate leaders and his own state's lawmakers, Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Tuesday appointed former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama in the U.S. Senate. Blagojevich, accused of trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder, praised the 71-year-old Burris' integrity and asked that the corruption allegations not "taint this good and honest man."
"The people of Illinois are entitled to have two United States senators represent them in Washington D.C.," Blagojevich said. "As governor I am required to make this appointment."
Burris, standing at the governor's side, said he's eager to get to work in Washington. He said he has no connection to the charges against Blagojevich, who was arrested on Dec. 9 and accused of trying to profit from appointing Obama's replacement.
Burris was the first African-American elected to major statewide office. He's served as Illinois' comptroller and ran for governor three times — the last time losing to Blagojevich.
The Democratic governor's announcement as Burris as his pick may be an empty gesture. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who must certify the appointment, said Tuesday he will not do so. And U.S. Senate leaders reiterated that they wouldn't accept anyone appointed by Blagojevich, who was arrested Dec. 9 on federal corruption charges.
In a statement Tuesday, Senate Democrats maintained that Blagojevich should not make the appointment because it is unfair to Burris, unfair to the people of Illinois and ultimately won't stand.
"It is truly regrettable that despite requests from all 50 Democratic Senators and public officials throughout Illinois, Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety," the statement said.
"Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus." . . .
[Blagojevich's] own lawyer said recently that there would be no point in Blagojevich naming someone to the Senate because leaders there would reject his appointment.
White, who handles the state's paperwork, said he would not formally certify any appointment made by Blagojevich "because of the current cloud of controversy surround the governor."
It's not clear whether White's administrative hurdle would be enough to prevent a Blagojevich appointment from taking effect.
Burris, 71, was the first black politician elected to major statewide office in Illinois and has connections across the state. He's a native of Centralia in southern Illinois who graduated from Southern Illinois University before earning his law degree from Howard University.
Burris served as Illinois' comptroller from 1979 to 1991 and as the state's attorney general from 1991 to 1995. He also served as vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1985 to 1989.
More recently, however, Burris has had a string of political disappointments. He lost campaigns for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1994, 1998 and 2002 -- the last time losing to Blagojevich. In 1995, he was badly beaten when challenging Chicago Mayor Richard Daley in the primary.
Before taking public office, Burris worked in banking and served as national executive director and chief operating officer for Operation PUSH, the Chicago-based civil rights organization. . . .
Now some political analysis from Politico's Arena, in the form of a "bold prediction for 2009" from attorney Thomas C. Goldstein:
Roland Burris is very likely to be a U.S. Senator until the Illinois Legislature can hold a special election to replace him, which they may now decide to do quickly. It's clear that if Burris were elected and duly qualified, the Senate couldn't refuse to seat him. That's the Supreme Court's holding in the Adam Clayton Powell case, Powell v. McCormack (1969). The question is whether there is a different rule for appointments by governors rather than elections. Those are covered by the Seventeenth Amendment, which lets states give the appointment power to governors "until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct."
But what if Blago gave the seat to someone who bribed him? The Senate could probably refuse to seat that person as not genuinely fulfilling the "qualifications" of the seat (which it gets to decide under Article I of the Constitution) because the appointment would be unlawful under other provisions of federal and state law (due to the bribery) and therefore not a valid exercise of the appointment power under state law. But there presumably was no bribe with respect to the Burris appointment, which means that he gets the seat.
The Senate's remaining option would be to seat Burris but then turn around an expel him by a 2/3 vote (another power under Article I). But that would open up another can of worms because Burris will not have engaged in misbehavior and it would be an obvious attempt to circumvent his right under the Constitution to be seated.
Stay tuned!
UPDATE: THE PRESIDENT-ELECT WEIGHS IN
President-elect Obama, whose Senate seat it is that is being filled (or not), issued the following statement:
Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat. I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it. I believe the best resolution would be for the Governor to resign his office and allow a lawful and appropriate process of succession to take place. While Governor Blagojevich is entitled to his day in court, the people of Illinois are entitled to a functioning government and major decisions free of taint and controversy.
Meanwhile, what I'm still hearing from legal eagles familiar with applicable law, neither the folks in Illinois nor the U.S. Senate appear to have legal or constitutional grounds to reject Governor Blagojevich's appointment, absent indication that there was something illegal about the actual appointment, like a bribe -- of which there is no indication that anyone is aware of.
