Just when the drama in Illinois concerning Rod Blagojevich seemed to be running out of steam in the national press, the controversial and indicted governor gave it new momentum by defying Senate Democratic leaders and state lawmakers and appointing Roland Burris, a former state attorney general and former political primary opponent, to Barack Obama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat.
The appointment of Roland Burris has created constitutional questions about the ability of the U.S. Senate, considered one of the most elite clubs in the world, to select who it seats in its chamber and has ignited a racial element in national politics. It has also provided a tough maze for Democratic leaders to navigate without offending African-Americans, arguably the most loyal Democratic voting bloc.
This brief will provide extempers with some background information on Roland Burris, background on the appointment, and the implications his appointment has for national politics. These implications will hopefully help extempers zero in on the appropriate level of analysis necessary to answer questions tied to the Burris situation.
Roland Burris
Roland Burris is seventy-one years of age and has a rich history in Illinois politics over the last three decades. Before entering politics, Burris was the leader of Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH coalition and earned a law degree from Howard University.
Burris started to make waves in Illinois politics by becoming the Comptroller of Illinois from 1979-1991. To extempers who hail from states that do not have comptroller positions, the comptroller of a state is simply its chief fiscal officer. After being comptroller, Burris added another step to African-American advancement in America’s political ranks by becoming only the second African-American attorney general in a U.S. state. He served one term as attorney general from 1991-1995.
Although Burris was favored to win the 1994 Democratic primary for governor, he fell behind late in the race and never recovered. He made other attempts at winning the Democratic nomination in 1998 and 2002, but lost both times with his 2002 loss coming to Blagojevich. Burris also attempted to become Chicago mayor in 1995, but was soundly crushed by the Daley political machine.
Opponents have attacked Burris as someone who plays political favorites, pointing to allies who received generous contracts when he was comptroller. Also, Burris ethics have been questioned by his willingness to accept the Senate appointment from an indicted governor and for also providing financial contributions to Blagojevich despite public allegations that Blagojevich was going down a corrupt path.
Burris role in the fight against appeals by Roland Cruz, who was initially convicted of the kidnap, rape, and murder of a ten year old child in 1985 and sentenced to death, has also drawn controversy. Opponents have portrayed him as a man who did not listen to his other attorneys, who had doubts about Cruz’s guilt and who fought to keep Cruz in jail until the Illinois Supreme Court overturned Cruz’s conviction.
Background of the Appointment & Dispute
After Blagojevich was arrested on December 9th by the FBI on charges of soliciting bribes and for wire and mail fraud, Democratic leaders cautioned Blagojevich on trying to appoint a senator to replace Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that he would not allow a senator appointed by Blagojevich to be seated. Democratic leaders around the country, including in Illinois, urged the governor to resign, but he has yet to do so. Interestingly enough, state lawmakers could have moved to strip Blagojevich of his appointing powers for senate appointments, but did not do so when they were recently in session. Their inaction and deadlock, helped by national fears that in a special election a Republican candidate could win, most likely opened the door for Blagojevich to make this move.
Burris had mentioned interest earlier in the seat and on December 30, 2008, Blagojevich appointed Burris to replace Obama. In a press conference that saw more questions aimed at the governor than Burris, Representative Bobby Rush made an appearance and interjected a racial element into the appointment, arguing that African-Americans deserved representation in the Senate and told reporters not to “hang or lynch” Burris simply because of their hatred for Blagojevich. Early reviews of Rush’s arguments were heavily criticized for injecting a divisive racial element into the appointment, which some have argued is what Blagojevich is attempting to do so he can gain leniency at a future trial (which some also said former governor George Ryan tried to do when he commuted the death sentences of all death row inmates in Illinois near the end of his term).
Currently, Harry Reid has indicated that Burris will not be seated. Reid cites constitutional authority for this move in Article I, Section V of the U.S. Constitution which states that “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.” However, this is a major constitutional questions that is fraught with holes. The U.S. Constitution lays out plainly the qualifications to be a U.S. Senator: 30 years old, citizen of the U.S. for 9 years, and a resident of the state that you represent. Burris clearly meets all three qualifications. The major issue here is whether the Senate can use the tainted background of Blagojevich against Burris, who has not been shown to have played any role in the alleged misconduct of the governor. Constitutional scholars warn that a refusal to seat Burris could open up a Pandora’s box politically. After all, if Burris can be denied his seat because the Senate does not care for the governor of the state he hails from, what keeps Democratic leaders from barring future Republican candidates who they may not like (and vice versa if the Republicans held the majority)? Therefore, this debate over how much to interpret from this piece of the U.S. Constitution could be an easy question extempers could encounter.
Reid’s refusal to seat Burris has been backed by the Senate secretary, Nancy Erickson, who says that Burris does not meet the requirement of Senate Rule two. This rule mandates that the senator who is appointed have a certification signed by the governor and secretary of state from the state that they hail from. Currently, Illinois Secretary of State Jess White has refused to sign the certification for Burris, although Burris is challenging the legal authority of White to make such decisions. Democrats have worried that Burris will try to show up at the U.S. Senate and that they will have to block his entry. Interestingly enough, if Blagojevich wanted to come to the Senate floor, the U.S. Senate cannot do anything about it since U.S. governors have rights to be on the Senate floor, although they do not have voting privileges. Although no one expects Blagojevich to make this move, it could prove to be an explosive situation for Democrats.
The one card the Senate seems prepared to play is to throw the issue of Burris’ qualifications to the Senate rules committee, who oversees such matters. This would be a delay tactic in the hopes that the Illinois state legislature could impeach Blagojevich and that the Lieutenant Governor, Pat Quinn, would take over and enjoy appointment powers. This would allow Quinn to appoint a new senator, or to choose Burris, and that would alleviate the Democrats of this political headache.
Political Implications
Without question, the major component to this issue has a racial tinge for Democrats. With Obama gone, the U.S. Senate does not have an African-American member. It is a controversial idea that certain seats must be given to people of certain genders, ethnic makeups, etc. However, due to the fact that African-Americans are over ten percent of the U.S. population, it is somewhat embarrassing that they do not have any representation in the U.S. Senate. For the Democratic Party, a party who has an unfortunate legacy in the past of supporting Jim Crow laws, segregation, and slavery, it is not a comfortable idea to have the news media show Burris being denied access to the U.S. Senate chamber.
This racial component has also been highlighted by reports that Reid was in contact with Blagojevich shortly before Blagojevich was arrested by the FBI. In these contacts, Reid is to have suggested that Blagojevich not appoint an African-American candidate such as Jesse Jackson, Jr., because of fears that they would not be able to win a re-election battle in 2010. Reid suggested Tammy Duckworth, a Thai-American who lost a Congressional election in 2006, or Illinois Attorney General, Lisa Madigan, a white female candidate. This has angered some leaders of the black community and some in Illinois, who believe that Reid is overstepping his bounds and is trying to come in and select the senator for Illinois himself.
Another explosive minefield for Democrats is that they owe part of their standing in the current Congress to the corruption scandals that hit Republicans hard in 2006 with Tom Delay, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, and Jack Abramoff. If the Democrats freely admit a U.S. senator who was appointed by a governor accused of selling off a U.S. Senate seat, it will make them look like they are going back on their word to “clean up Washington” and may invite a major challenge by Republicans in the 2010 midterm, where historically the party that opposes the president tend to do better (although this could be a longshot since Republicans have to defend more seats). On another note, backing down on his previous pledge not to admit any nominee Blagojevich appointed could make Reid look weak and would make his re-election in Nevada less than a sure thing.
The Republican Party could also benefit if the Blagojevich scandal continues and impeachment proceedings slow. The GOP could try to repaint the Democrats at the corrupt party, which might be easier to do when some of the hatred of the Bush administration dies down after next year. The Republicans will also argue that the Democrats are not allowing the people of Illinois to choose the next senator in a special election, with state lawmakers less than trustworthy to make the selection. Who knows, the path back to power for the GOP might go through Chicago.