Dear Sen. Burris: A lie by omission is still a lie. RESIGN !!

[Scout26]

Well, the story keeps changing.  If he doesn't resign the Senate needs to kick him out.  If I was Harry Reid I'd be mighty ticked off that he lied to me.  But then again maybe not since, I'm a republican therefore I can't stand liars.


Burris tried to raise funds for Blagojevich

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – U.S. Sen. Roland Burris now acknowledges attempting to raise money for ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich — an explosive twist in his ever-changing story on how he landed a coveted Senate appointment from the man accused of trying to sell the seat.

Burris made the admission to reporters on Monday, after releasing an affidavit over the weekend saying he had more contact with Blagojevich aides about the Senate seat than he had described under oath to the state House panel that recommended Blagojevich's impeachment. The Democrat also said in the affidavit, but not before the panel, that the governor's brother asked him for fundraising help.

Though Burris insists he never raised money for Blagojevich while the governor was considering whom to appoint to the seat President Barack Obama vacated, the revelation that he had attempted to do so is likely to increase calls for Burris' resignation and an investigation into whether he committed perjury before the panel. Illinois Democrats have forwarded documents related to Burris' testimony to a county prosecutor for review.

Burris would not answer questions Tuesday in Peoria about his attempts to raise funds for Blagojevich, but said he didn't do anything wrong and encouraged officials to look into the matter.

"I welcome the opportunity to go before any and all investigative bodies, including those referred by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the Senate ethics committee to answer any questions they have," he told reporters Tuesday.

Burris also said he planned to release later this week "a concise document" related to his testimony, but he would not elaborate.

After an event Monday night in Peoria, Burris told reporters that he had reached out to friends after Blagojevich's brother, Robert, called him before President Barack Obama's election asking him to raise $10,000 or $15,000 for the governor.

"So some time shortly after Obama was elected, the brother called," Burris said, according to a transcript posted on the Chicago Tribune's Web site. "And now in the meantime, I'd talked to some people about trying to see if we could put a fundraiser on. Nobody was — they said, 'We aren't giving money to the governor.' And I said, 'OK, you know, I can't tell them what to do with their money.'"

Burris said he left open the possibility that he and his business partner could go to others for money.

He reiterated that he never did end up donating to the governor or holding a fundraiser, and said that he told Robert Blagojevich in a later conversation that he couldn't raise money because he was interested in the Senate seat. Burris, however, had already discussed the Senate seat with aides to the governor, including Robert Blagojevich, before the November election.

Burris is in the midst of a previously scheduled tour of northern and central Illinois cities as he tries to get his Senate legs by hearing constituents' concerns.

Lawmakers of both parties have said Burris should resign after he admitted over the weekend that he had talked to several aides of the governor before getting the Senate post. During his testimony before the panel, he said he remembered talking only to one aide about the seat and did not say he was hit up for campaign donations.

The new affidavit submitted to the impeachment panel indicated contact not only with Robert Blagojevich, but with Blagojevich's former chief of staff John Harris and two other close friends — all of whom Burris had been specifically asked about by the committee's top Republican.

"You would think those would be the kind of people you'd remember you had a conversation with," said Rep. Gary Hannig, a Litchfield Democrat.

Burris initially told the impeachment committee he had only a brief conversation with Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat, before he was named to the seat Dec. 30. In testimony before the House committee Jan. 8, he added that he had discussed the seat with a longtime Blagojevich friend last summer.

U.S. Senate Democrats initially refused to seat Burris because he had been appointed by Blagojevich, who had been arrested three weeks earlier on federal charges he tried to profit from the Senate appointment. But they relented, setting as a condition Burris' impeachment committee testimony.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan called Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt on Tuesday and alerted him to the package of material he was sending, but did not make any comments on the situation, Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said. Schmidt released a statement saying only the matter is under review.

And do remember that Obama was raised in this culture of corruption......  It was Jonah Goldberg who said

There's the enormous I-should-have-had-a-V8! moment as the mainstream press collectively thwacks itself in the forehead, realizing it blew it again. The New York Times — which, according to Wall Street analysts, is weeks from holding editorial board meetings in a refrigerator box — created the journalistic equivalent of CSI-Wasilla to study every follicle and fiber in Sarah Palin's background, all the while treating Obama's Chicago like one of those fairy-tale lands depicted in posters that adorn little girls' bedroom walls. See there, Suzie? That's a Pegasus. That's a pink unicorn. And that's a beautiful sunflower giving birth to a fully grown Barack Obama, the greatest president ever and the only man in history to be able to pick up manure from the clean end.

[Manedwolf]

Oh, come on. Democrats need to be accepting of lying. If they weren't, they wouldn't be able to breathe.

[Standing Wolf]

If he doesn't resign the Senate needs to kick him out.

It's hard to kick when you live on your knees.

[lone_gunman]

I think it is a bad idea to kick Burris out, or force him to resign for a couple of reasons.

First, it is inevitable that a liberal will be appointed.  If you get rid of Burris, someone at least as liberal, and probably worse, will be appointed to take his place.

Second, he will be a weak Senator because of this scandal.  He is already damaged goods.  If he has an agenda, he will not be able to advance it.  He has a poor reputation even among liberal democrats, and no one will want to have anything to do with him,

Third, he will be easy to defeat in the next election cycle.  Because of this scandal, he will be easier to defeat than most any other Democrat.  Why replace a weakened, scandal ridden liberal who is going to have difficulty in the election with someone better?

I think the Republicans should just shut up and stay out of it.  Burris is a no win situation for the Democrats.

[MechAg94]

Republicans have been forced to resign for much less.  It is about time that actually happened to a Democrat.

[john828]

Has anyone written a letter or e-mail to their senator regarding the matter?  I just did.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Burris is a lying, incompetent, ineffective Democrat senator.  I say keep him.

[Scout26]

Burris is a lying, incompetent, ineffective Democrat senator.  I say keep him.

He also provided the +1 vote for the porkulus bill. 

Apparently IL State Rep Currie (D-Daley) had Burris's "updated" affidavit in her desk for about week before the porkulus bill passed.  She only released it once compromise porkulus passed in the senate. 

Anybody got tar and feathers willing to meet me in Springfield ??

[charby]

Shot an email to Sen. Tom Harkin to ask Sen. Roland Burris to resign. I'm curoius what the reply will be.

-Charby

[Waitone]

Rumor is Burris will depart by April only to be replaced by Jesse Jackson Junior.

Reid did not want Burris and will do nothing to save him.

[lone_gunman]

Burris is a lying, incompetent, ineffective Democrat senator.  I say keep him.

I completely agree.  As I said before, this scandal has made him useless.  No one wants anything to do with him.  His reputation is poor, and he will accomplish nothing.  The Republicans would be wise just to shut up and let him stay.  If he stays, the Democrats look bad.  If he goes, the Democrats still look bad.  

As for his vote for the stimulus bill, that is irrelevant.  Whoever Illinois sends to the Senate will be a liberal who would have voted for the stimulus.  So that is an unimportant point.  It is better they send a weakened, ineffective, corrupted Senator with a poor reputation, than to send someone who is of the same political ideology, but with a better reputation.

[Scout26]

As for his vote for the stimulus bill, that is irrelevant.  Whoever Illinois sends to the Senate will be a liberal who would have voted for the stimulus.  So that is an unimportant point.  It is better they send a weakened, ineffective, corrupted Senator with a poor reputation, than to send someone who is of the same political ideology, but with a better reputation.

But without Burris the Dem's would have had to find one more RINO to vote for the Porkulus.  It might not have passed.   Whoever Gov Quinn sends to the senate now will only be there until the next election.   Accepting the seat is a political death sentence.  Hopefully the Stupid party has learned something. 
 

[lone_gunman]

But without Burris the Dem's would have had to find one more RINO to vote for the Porkulus.

The Democrat that they sent would have voted for the stimulus bill anyway.

[stevelyn]

Did anybody really think that there would be an ethical politician from Illanoid?

[charby]

Did anybody really think that there would be an ethical politician from Illanoid?

Paul Simon?

[Perd Hapley]

As every one knows, it is pronounced, "ell-in-oys."   

[Don't care]

.

[Don't care]

.

[Manedwolf]

  Is that beautiful music I hear...?

Analysis: Democrats self-destructing over ethics

By LARRY MARGASAK – 7 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration and the new Congress are quickly handing over to Republicans the same "culture of corruption" issue that Democrats used so effectively against the GOP before coming to power.

Freshman Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., is only the latest embarrassment.

Senate Democrats accepted Burris because they believed what he told them: He was clean. Burris now admits he tried to raise money for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who authorities say sought to sell President Barack Obama's former Senate seat.

"The story seems to be changing day by day," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Wednesday.

The political mess for the Democratic Party, however, isn't Burris' conduct alone; it's the pattern that has developed so quickly over the past few months.

_The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., is the subject of a House ethics investigation. It's partly focused on his fundraising practices for a college center in his name, his ownership financing of a resort property in the Dominican Republic and his financial disclosure reports.

_Federal agents raided two Pennsylvania defense contractors that were provided millions of dollars in federal funding by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.

_Blagojevich was arrested Dec. 9 on federal charges, including allegations he schemed to sell the Senate seat to the highest bidder.

_Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota, abandoned his bid to become health and human services secretary and the administration's point man on reforming health care; and Nancy Killefer stepped down from a newly created position charged with eliminating inefficient government programs.

Both Daschle and Killefer had tax problems, and Daschle also faced potential conflicts of interest related to working with health care interests.

_Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was confirmed after revealing he had tax troubles.

_Obama's initial choice for commerce secretary, Bill Richardson, stepped aside due to a grand jury investigation into a state contract awarded to his political donors.

_While the Senate voted overwhelmingly to confirm William Lynn as deputy defense secretary, Obama had to waive his ethics regulations to place the former defense lobbyist in charge of day-to-day operations at the Pentagon.

The No. 2 Senate Democrat, Richard Durbin of Illinois, expressed his anger about the Burris case Wednesday while he was on an official visit to Greece.

"I do believe that the public statements made by Mr. Burris to this point have raised questions ... as to the nature of his relationship with the former governor and the circumstances surrounding his appointment," Durbin said.

Reid said in Nevada, "Now there's some question as to whether or not he told the truth."

Where to go next? Reid had no answer.

"What I think we have to do is just wait and see," the Senate leader said.

Senate Democrats now may be trapped in their own ethics system. Disciplinary action against a senator usually requires a long investigation by the Senate's ethics committee. While a preliminary inquiry on Burris is under way, that's only the first early step. And, with ongoing criminal investigations in Illinois, the committee probably would have to postpone any action — as it usually does — to avoid interference.

In 2006, Republicans lost control of the House after Democrats effectively used a "culture of corruption" theme against them.

The final scandal broke shortly before the election, when it was revealed that then-Rep. Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, sent sexually suggestive e-mails and explicit instant messages to teenage boys who had served as House pages.

Republicans were further harmed when it was disclosed that several of their members were aware of the problem and failed to take action.

Democrats, who've been in control of both Congress and the White House less than two months now, are lucky on one point. The next congressional election is nearly two years away.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j44ku9zUM9IEdkkoWbIYStDVE6SwD96EH4JO0

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

Federal agents raided two Pennsylvania defense contractors that were provided millions of dollars in federal funding by Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee.
god would that be a nice way to send abscam jack into retirement!!  please!