WASHINGTON — Democratic leaders plan to grant few if any privileges this week to Roland Burris, the man picked by Gov. Rod Blagojevich to represent Illinois in the U.S. Senate, even if he arrives on Capitol Hill with the proper credentials.
Senate officials involved in the tangle of legal and logistical planning said Friday that a Democrat will object to Burris being duly sworn with the rest of his class and propose that his credentials be reviewed for a period of time by the Rules Committee.
The only way Burris will be allowed on the floor is if he has a certification of appointment signed personally by his embattled patron, Blagojevich, and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.
Burris would then be treated as a senator-elect, which means he will be allowed on the Senate floor without voting or speaking privileges — and he wouldn’t be granted a desk, according to these officials. They demanded anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The man charged with letting people through the door of the chamber, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer, said he expects the two sides to work out a deal before the Senate convenes Tuesday.
Gainer has known Burris since their days in Illinois law enforcement, when Burris was attorney general and Gainer was the director of the state police.
“I have known Roland Burris for a number of years,” Gainer said in a telephone interview. “He is a good man. He plays by the rules. I don’t think there’s going to be a confrontation.”
Whatever the drama, Burris will not be seated Tuesday, Democrats said.
Republicans have been wary about commenting, pleased to see Democrats mucking through a political mess of their own party’s making.
Republican Whip Jon Kyl of Arizona said Friday that he wants to review state and federal law before opining on whether Burris should be seated. Still, he questioned whether the legal status of the patron is enough reason to block the appointee.
“The Senate has to be very careful of setting a precedent that just because it doesn’t like the governor that appointed (Burris) we therefore refuse to seat a qualified appointee,” Kyl said in a telephone interview.
Blagojevich has been accused by a federal prosecutor of trying to sell Obama’s seat. Senate Democrats in Washington are hoping that the governor will be long gone by the time the Rules Committee report is presented on Burris’ credentials.
The Illinois House is set to convene on Wednesday and could impeach Blagojevich within a few days. A trial in the state Senate would follow.
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Illinois governor points finger at Reid
CHICAGO — Illinois’ embattled governor complained through his spokesman Saturday that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is guilty of a conflict of interest in that Reid telephoned him in December to discuss the seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
Lucio Guerrero, spokesman for Gov. Rod Blagojevich, said he didn’t know firsthand which candidates the Nevada Democrat supported during the call but said he knows Reid’s candidates did not include Roland Burris, the man the governor picked for Obama’s seat.
“I think the governor believes there is a conflict of interest — that Reid showed he has a horse in the race and Roland Burris wasn’t one of them,” Guerrero said.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Reid spokesman Jim Manley confirmed the majority leader called Blagojevich on Dec. 3 — six days before the governor’s arrest on federal corruption charges — to talk about the vacancy.
Manley declined to name the candidates discussed, saying there was “no need to embarrass the people that were subject of the conversation.” Manley added that Reid also spoke to the New York and Colorado governors about openings created when senators from those states accepted Obama administration jobs.
The Associated Press
