(Senator) Durbin Asks Burris To Resign; Burris Refuses

[sabra]

Source: cbs2chicago/AP

WASHINGTON (AP) ―

Illinois Senator Dick Durbin asked Sen. Roland Burris to resign Tuesday, but Burris is refusing to do so.

Burris also is refusing to say whether he'll run for the seat in 2010.

Burris was appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and driven from office after he was accused of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

Burris repeatedly changed his story about how he was appointed. He is facing calls for his resignation after he admitted trying to raise money for Blagojevich. Burris has said he did nothing improper. He refused to comment after his meeting with Durbin.

Read more: http://cbs2chicago.com/local/Durbin.Asks.Burris.2.94284...

[atreides1]

1. He had his chance

Burris was given the chance to do the right thing for the right reasons, but, all he's done is to show what narcissist he really is.

I guess the next stop is the Senate Ethics committee where he'll probably be removed for perjuring himself.

[WI_DEM]

2. Burris is only concerned with himself.

[Renew Deal]

4. What makes him different than most other politicians?

[tencats]

16. This is one thing.

Roland Burris's Monument to Me
http://tinyurl.com/bgd6ex
<>

[Renew Deal]

3. He will be primaried if he doesn't leave by 2010, so I'm not too worried about that.

But hopefully we will be rid of him sooner.

[Raskolnik]

5. Dollars to doughnuts that Burris is trying to "sell" his resignation.

It might not be for cash (or, who the hell knows, it might be) but I'd be very surprised if he wasn't planning on trading his voluntary resignation for something valuable.

He's a dick.

[Kittycat]

7. Another job, I'm sure.

[DeadEyeDyck]

22. That's good n/t

[Kittycat]

6. We need to cut him loose.

Burris is going to be a plague on our elections next year - unless we get him out of that seat. And it has to be democrats pushing to do it, not just republicans.

[No Elephants]

8. What the heck is the Senate waiting for? EXPEL HIM.

[AZ Criminal JD]

11. Right!, To hell with due process!

[No Elephants]

23. United States Senate xpulsion proceedings satisfy due process.

[AZ Criminal JD]

26. I'm sure you would be happy with the nearest lynch mob.

[No Elephants]

29. If you're sure of that on the basis of a call for Senate expulsion proceedings, you

should never be taken seriously bc you would be one mistaken arse.

[Cary]

9. Not to worry.

Republicans here are inept. This only means Burris will serve out his term. If Democrats here do a good job they will run a good candidate or two against Burris and then win the election against some polarizing, "conservative" douchebag.

[murielm99]

10. The republicans here are in disarray.

But the public mood is not good. We could lose that seat to a republican because of the focus on Democratic corruption. We should always worry, and always have a plan.

The republicans have lost so much that they would consider it a major psychological coup to get that seat. After all, it was Obama's seat. Can you imagine the screeching and preening on hate radio and faux news if they won that seat?

There will be a primary. We do have some good people who want the seat. Alexi Giannoulias announced his intention to run at the last Democratic Chairmen's Association meeting in Springfield. There will be more. But blue state or not, we should never get too sure of ourselves

[Cary]

12. It is wise to never be over confident.

I didn't say we should let up any.

However what exactly do Republicans have to offer here? Opposition to Barack Obama?

I just don't see that happening, either in terms of WE, THE PEOPLE doing that or in terms of the radical right allowing a moderate candidate.

Remember what they did to Peter Fitzgerald and Patrick Ryan?

[No Elephants]

24. The United States Senate should commence expulsion proceedings.

[Cary]

28. That's not going to do any good.

By the time they got anywhere, Burris will be gone anyway.

From what I've seen, so far, he's not guilty of anything anyway. It would have been better if he had disclosed these other contacts before. But he didn't.

Vitter is guilty of far worse.

[No Elephants]

30. Vitter saw a prostitute. Puritannical notions are

the only reason I know for making that illegal, rather than a personal matter.

Vitter has done some bad, but perfectly legal, things in his capacity as a Louisiana senator. I blame him for those, but he had a legal right to do them.

With whom his chooses to fulfill his sexual fantasies or fetishes? Two consenting adults. Not really my concern.

[Cary]

31. At the end of the day Burris isn't going to be convicted.

He probably won't even be charged.

I'm not saying this is right, but I am following your logic. If he probably hasn't done anything illegal, not really your concern?

As for Vitter, I don't know the laws in DC and Louisiana but I would be surprised if being a John wasn't illegal.

[No Elephants]

32. No, not following my logic. I never said anything about Burris being

charged with anything criminal or convicted, nor did I suggest that being a John is legal.

[Cary]

33. You said that Vitter did nothing illegal by patronizing a prostitute.

You implied that Burris should be kicked out, and Vitter not kicked out, because Burris did something illegal and Vitter didn't.

[No Elephants]

34. No, I never said that Vitter had done nothing illegal. And I said that the Senate should

commence expulsion proceedings against Burris. That has nothing to do with convicting Burris of anything criminal. I said that seeing a prostitute was not in the same category with things like perjury or bribery, when it comes to a Senate seat. I also said that seeing a prostitute should be a personal matter and is probably illegal only because of Puritannical notions. I never said it was legal, though, nor would I. I know it is illegal, at least in most of this country.

[Cary]

35. "Things like perjury or bribery" are legal terms of art.

Either Burris committed a crime or he didn't. Either way you have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt and that's just not so easy to do.

I'm not so sure that, if Vitter was convicted of some crime of participating in prostitution, that he should be allowed to remain a member in good standing of the highest law making body in the land. I could lose my license to practice law over something like that. Serving either as a lawyer or a law maker is privilege, not a right.

Nor is expulsion from the Senate easily achieved. Senators over the years have seen to it that it has not happened a lot and there are really no rules. So even if you got your expulsion proceedings it would never happen in time to prevent Burris from serving out his term.

[No Elephants]

36. In a Senate expulsion proceeding, the standard of proof is not necessarily the

same as they are in criminal court. The standard is simply whatever it takes to get a Senator to vote a certain way. The Democratic Senators did not want to seat him in the first place and the Republican Senators are not going to stand in the way. And, expulsion proceedings could most certainly conclude in under two years. For that matter, they could probably conclude occur within a month or less, if the Senators had a will for that.

[Cary]

37. There is no standard in a Senate expulsion proceeding.

But again you miss the obvious. Conviction of a felony should be prima facie.

[No Elephants]

38. I said that the only standard is what makes a Senator vote a particular way. That is a correct

statement, more so than "no standard" or "proof beyond a reasonable doubt," which was your starting point.

And I am not missing anything that is relevant to the discussion of commencing expulsion proceedings against Burris. Conviction of a felony simply has nothing to do with it.

[Cary]

39. I could be wrong. Do you have a link to support your proposition?

Otherwise you're just making it up as you go along and I really don't see how you can't understand the problem you face if you are a convicted felon.

[No Elephants]

40. A link to support which proposition? That a felony conviction has nothing to do with

commencing expulsion proceedings against Burris? You don't need a felony conviction to commence expulsion proceedings. And he has not been charged with a felony. So it has nothing to do with this particular case.

LOL, I totally understand the problem of being a convicted felon. Who doesn't? That's probably one of the major reasons I and a lot of others don't commit felonies.

What I don't understand is what you think it has to do with my suggesting that the Senate commence expuslion proceedings against Burris.

[Cary]

41. Now you're just being obtuse. n/t

[No Elephants]

45. No, simply declining to join you way out in left field.

[marshall]

42. He's as innocent as anybody else walking the halls of Congress!

Which is to say, he hasn't left any evidence behind him.

[Cary]

43. Probably true. n/t

[gratuitous]

13. Burris won't resign, and the Senate won't kick him out

If the Senate is going to suddenly decide to punish lying, every man and woman in the chamber would have reason to be extremely nervous, so the Senate isn't going to take any action. Roland Burris wants to carve a new line on his personal monument, and he wants to put a span of years below the title of United States Senator, so he won't be resigning anytime soon.

If the Democrats were smart, they'd quit making public statements about Burris and carrying Republican water. Instead, they should hold a private little meeting, away from the reporters and the Republicans and tell Burris, "Okay Roland, you have the Obama seat through the end of this Congress. Then you're going back to Illinois and we don't want to hear from you ever again. You're not going to run for 're'-election. You're not going to speak on the Senate floor. You're going to show up, listen to the rest of us, keep the chair at your desk warm, and vote with the rest of us on legislation."

[w4rma]

14. Burris is too self-centered for that to work. He'll have to be forced out. (nt)

[gratuitous]

15. He is indeed self-centered

And at this point in his career, I think the only thing he's concerned with is chipping another line into his granite. He doesn't care if he's a complete waste of space as a Senator, he just wants to carve "United States Senator, 2009-2011" into his monument. In exchange for that empty achievement, the Senate Democrats should just ignore him and let him be a seat-warmer.

[No Elephants]

25. Lying is different from perjury., though. And the man ultimately--after 5 tries--admited

that he was asked to try to raise money for Blago in connection with this seat and did so.

Yhr U.S. Sentate should commence expulsion proceedings ASAP.

[The Stranger]

17. Someone remind me again why everyone is calling for the resignation of a DEMOCRAT?

Help me out here.

[w4rma]

19. He's corrupt. And Democrats don't need the Republicans to clean out our corruption for us.

Burris is also anti-union, so he won't be missed.

[struggle4progress]

21. What evidence can you provide of corruption?

[The Stranger]

27. There are GOP war criminals responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands still at large --

-- and all of these "Democrats" are calling for the head of another Democrat because he is "corrupt"?

You really, really have to be fucking kidding me.

[surrealAmerican]

18. Why must they keep asking if he intends to run in 2010?

It really doesn't matter. The only way he could win a primary for 2010 is if he actually distinguishes himself as a senator, and how likely is that? One of the "heavy hitters" in this state will win the primary. Burris is a "bench warmer" at best.

[struggle4progress]

20. Burris | Press Release after Obama Address

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tonight United States Senator Roland W. Burris issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress:

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides us with the greatest tool in our economic arsenal—the first step to re-igniting the great American economic engine through targeted tax relief, job creation, infrastructure, education projects, and more. I’m proud to have cast one of my first votes as a United States senator for this legislation. It’s a testament to what Congress and the White House can achieve when they work together, and it represents some long awaited relief for working class families around the country and for those in Illinois.

“Since December 2007, America has shed over 3.6 million jobs. The national unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 7.6 percent—a number of jobless Americans almost equal to the entire population of Illinois. Without the type of swift, comprehensive action, economists estimate that an additional five million job losses could occur this year and the unemployment rate could rise to 10 percent.

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will create or save 3.5 million good paying jobs nationally over the next two years, and an estimated 148,000 of these jobs will be in Illinois. Getting America back to work is the first step on the road to economic recovery and long-term competitiveness and prosperity.

“The economic crisis is our shared challenge, and only by acting in a coordinated and comprehensive way will we find our path to economic recovery. By addressing job creation and tax relief, strengthening housing prices and stabilizing the financial markets, President Obama has laid out a strong and sensible plan to put this country back on track for growth and prosperity.”

Burris tries to move ahead
http://blogs.dailyherald.com/node/1508

[opihimoimoi]

44. Too widdle too late...name is sullied...resign...look like a man.