 Tainted from the day he was appointed, Burris on Wednesday denied
new allegations of a pay-to-play scheme as newly revealed wiretaps
showed him begging for his Senate seat and offering to donate to the
campaign of Rod Blagojevich, later ousted as governor of Illinois.
Burris told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he never wrote
any checks to the Blagojevich campaign following the conversation.
The wiretap proves there was no "pay to play" involved in his
appointment, he said.
Burris said he talked with Robert Blagojevich, who was chairman
of the Friends of Rod Blagojevich campaign committee, about
fundraising because he felt he had to if he wanted to be considered
for the Senate seat.
Even then, Burris said, he knew he could not raise money for Rod
Blagojevich without creating the appearance he bought the seat.
"Here I am wrestling with this situation," Burris said Wednesday.
"How do I help the governor? How do I not offend the governor's
brother?"
Political observers said the tapes ensure that Burris has no
political future.
"If anything, the tapes confirm the position he was in," said
David Bositis, senior political analyst with the Joint Center for
Political and Economic Studies.
"Nothing Burris did or does was going to change his prospects,"
Bositis said. "Even if he kept his nose to the grindstone and worked
hard and so forth, that wasn't going to make a difference."
Burris, 71, wanted the Senate seat as a crowning achievement,
something to carve into his tombstone. Instead, it has made him a
political pariah, viewed on Capitol Hill mainly as an oddity.
"People identify Burris with a governor who made multiple
attempts to sell the Senate seat and they say, 'Here's the guy who
took it,'" said Norman J. Ornstein, a scholar of U.S. politics at
the American Enterprise Institute. "He can't win in that sense."
On the tapes, Burris is heard asking Blagojevich's brother to
tell the governor that he would like to be appointed to the Senate
seat vacated by President Barack Obama. Burris then notes that it
would look bad for him to raise money directly for Rod Blagojevich,
so he promises to personally write the governor a check and take
other actions to help the campaign.
"OK, OK, well we, we, I, I will personally do something, OK,"
Burris says.
Asked Wednesday why he did not tell an Illinois House impeachment
committee about the conversation, Burris replied: "You're being
asked questions and one thing you don't do is to try to volunteer
information that wasn't asked. There was no obligation there."
Burris said he did not consider informing members of the
committee afterward. "Why would I in hindsight turn around and say,
'I shoulda, shoulda, shoulda?'"
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The Senate Ethics Committee is investigating Burris, as is a state
attorney in Illinois. When asked in a recent interview with The
Associated Press how the scandal back home has affected him, Burris
made a sweeping gesture with his hands and literally brushed the
matter aside.
"We've done some very serious and meaningful work," Burris said.
"I've been a part of all that energy here, all that's helping
people. And that's what I seek to do."
Burris casts himself as a team player, a loyal Democrat. He
doesn't have any close friends in the Senate, though he says he
chats with every member he bumps into. Most conspicuous is his lack
of a relationship with his Illinois colleague, Dick Durbin, the
Senate's No. 2 Democrat. Durbin routinely takes new senators under
his wing, but he has never been supportive of Burris' Senate
aspirations -- he told Burris it would be a bad idea to accept his
appointment in the first place.
"As far as the relationship goes, I wouldn't say it's a bad one,"
said Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker. "It's just not a very deep
one."
Durbin switched from tepid acceptance to calling for Burris'
resignation after Burris revealed that he had tried, and failed, to
raise money for Blagojevich.
At a stop in Champaign, Ill., Burris looked like a typical
politician walking into a Small Business Administration seminar at a
hotel on the University of Illinois campus.
The hotel's developer, Peter Fox, warmly shook Burris' hand as he
told him, "We're lucky to have you here." Fox is a past head of the
state's Department of Commerce and Community Affairs.
"Roland was always so gracious," said Fox afterward. "He's just
always been a friend of mine."
[Associated Press;
By HENRY C. JACKSON]
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
Associated Press writer David Mercer in Decatur, Ill., contributed
to this report.
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