Burris Lied About His Contact With Blago and Friends.

They need to throw this guy Burris out of the Senate on his rear. I am not surprised to hear he lied through his teeth but I am disgusted.The only reason he is coming forward now is that he knows that he is on those tapes the FBI have.

Sun-Times exclusive: Blagojevich hit up Burris for cash EXCLUSIVE-In his third sworn version of events, senator confirms pitch for donations.

Burris Says Blagojevich Wanted $10,000 Donation Before Senate Appointment

Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother solicited U.S. Sen. Roland Burris for up to $10,000 in campaign cash before Blagojevich named Burris to the coveted post — something Burris initially failed to disclose under oath before an Illinois House impeachment panel, records and interviews show.

Burris acknowledges being hit up for the money in a new affidavit he has sent to the head of the House committee that recommended Blagojevich be removed from office.

The affidavit is dated Feb. 5 — three weeks after Burris was sworn in to replace President Obama in the Senate.

Burris — who did not give money to the Blagojevich campaign fund in response to the previously undisclosed solicitation — provided a copy of the sworn statement to the Chicago Sun-Times Friday in response to questions about his contacts with the Blagojevich camp about fund-raising.

Burris acknowledged having three conversations with Robert Blagojevich, who headed the Friends of Blagojevich campaign fund — and one of those was likely recorded by the FBI.

Burris’ statement offers the third version of events he has given about his discussions concerning the Senate seat, to which Blagojevich appointed him in late December, after Blagojevich was hit with federal corruption charges that included an allegation he tried to sell the Senate appointment.

In all, Burris expressed interest in the Senate seat to five people in Blagojevich’s camp, documents obtained by the Sun-Times show. He disclosed just one of those contacts when asked Jan. 8 by state Rep. James Durkin (R-Western Springs) during the impeachment hearings to name any contact he had with Blagojevich’s people about the seat.

“I’m very surprised he didn’t make these disclosures,” Durkin said. “I don’t know if Mr. Burris was purposely being evasive during the committee or had selected memory issues.”

In a sworn statement filed with the House panel Jan. 5, before he testified, Burris said he had no contact with Blagojevich’s camp about the Senate seat aside from his appointment in late December.

In testimony before the committee, he added that he spoke with Lon Monk, Blagojevich’s former chief of staff. In his new affidavit, Burris confirms he also spoke of his interest in the Senate appointment with Blagojevich insiders John Harris, Doug Scofield and John Wyma.

The discussions with Robert Blagojevich about money came after Burris spoke with those people. Burris had told the House committee he was unaware of any quid pro quo dangled by Blagojevich’s camp.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/blagojevich/1431222,CST-NWS-blago15.article

There were red flags everywhere in regards to Burris and connections with Blago but Burris pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, especially Harry Reid. I bet the secretary of state that refused to put his signature on the appointment is relieved that he stood by his principles.

The Democratic Leaders should have gone with their gut feelings too, they had been blocking Burris from taking the Senate seat, saying the appointment was tainted.


CNN.com
updated 9:53 p.m. EST, Thu January 8, 2009

(CNN) -- Roland Burris on Thursday denied any quid pro quo with Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for his appointment to the U.S. Senate during testimony before a panel weighing whether to impeach Blagojevich.

"I can, for this committee, state that there was no legal, personal or political exchange for my seat," Burris told the panel.

Burris also said he had no conversations with Blagojevich before the governor's arrest about his desire to take the seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

The former state attorney general appeared before an impeachment committee of legislators in Springfield, Illinois, to explain his ties to the governor, who was arrested on December 9 after federal prosecutors alleged that Blagojevich had tried to sell the seat for money and influence.

Later Thursday, the panel unanimously recommended impeaching Blagojevich. The impeachment issue will be taken up by the full Illinois state House of Representatives.

Illinois Republicans had said they wanted to know whether Burris was "paying to play." GOP lawmakers pointed to state records showing that Burris, a Democrat whom Blagojevich appointed on December 30, and his lobbying firm contributed more than $20,000 to the governor's political campaigns.

The question reverberated back to Washington, where Democratic leaders have been blocking Burris from taking the Senate seat, saying the allegations against Blagojevich taint the appointment.

In a written affidavit given to the impeachment panel, Burris said he had one limited conversation with the governor about the Senate seat before he was appointed. And that conversation, he said, was initiated by a Blagojevich attorney.

But records show that the two men have long ties, including lucrative state contracts, political contributions and even a job for the governor's wife. Those records are raising thorny questions from state officials, particularly Republicans.

On Wednesday, Burris said in Washington that his selection had nothing to do with money or any pay-to-play scheme.

"There is certainly no pay-to-play involved, because I don't have no money," Burris said before returning to Illinois.

Other than the fact that Burris lied under oath about having several conversations about the Senate seat there were other valid reasons he should never have been seated because if his ties to Blago.

1. Illinois state records show that Burris, who once ran against Blagojevich for the Democratic nomination for governor, Burris and his lobbying firm have contributed more than $20,000 to the governor's political campaigns.

2. Two years ago, Burris hosted a $1,000-per-plate fundraiser for Blagojevich.

What's more, Burris' consulting firm, Burris & Lebed Consulting, has won nearly $300,000 in state contracts over the past four years.

3. Finally, the governor's wife, Patti, was hired in September to an $80,000-a-year job with the Chicago Christian Industrial League, where Burris' lobbying partner is a board member.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/08/burris.gop/index.html?

Obama vouched for Burris because he Knew him.

Quote :

CNN.com 8:43 a.m. EST, Tue January 13, 200

A spokesman for the Obama transition team said the president-elect knows Burris and has a "high regard for him."

"He looks forward to working with Senator Burris and the rest of the United States Senate to rebuild our economy and meet the great challenges of our time," Dan Pfeiffer said

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/12/burris.senate/index.html

I knew this would happen. Burris has been un-electable in several recent elections. As soon as it was announced Blago appointed him to the senate seat, my stomach turned.

These politicians are disgusting in my opinion. I'm so embarrassed they represent, or have, my State.

Joe,
Did you see this Bozo Burris giving a press conference earlier today? He tried as hard as he could to twist the actual truth he made a fool of himself. The media didn't buy a word of it. The media were all over him. His excuses and lies didn't hold water.

They just weren't having it with all the lies. I didn't like this guy the minute I set eyes on him when Blago first introduced him as his pick.

He always has this stupid grin on his face. He creeps me out. He is as crocked as the rest of them in Chicago.

Makes me wonder why the truth about him came out as soon as the Bill was passed....They sure managed to keep this little tid-bit about Burris well hidden until after they got the Bill passed.

They were in such a rush to get it passed by Friday, not a minute later. Pelosi even had Senator Brown leave his mother's wake to come back to vote.

They kept the Senate Floor opened until like 10:30 last night and sent a Government plane to pick him up.

I kept thinking why couldn't they wait until Saturday? Why not wait until people had a chance to read the Bill first, and why not let the man mourn the death of his mother. They needed his vote I get that but they could have waited one more day.

It's not as if Obama was going to sign it right away, he left for a long weekend to Chicago on vacation yesterday, he hadn't planned on signing this so called Stimulus until Tuesday.

But Pelosi was also in a rush for personal reasons, she had a flight to catch to Rome last night, she is gone to Italy for 8 day's. And I am sure they wanted to get Burris to vote on it before his web of lies hit the fan yesterday.

Jane,

Burris gives me the creeps as well. He always has. But, so did/does Blago. And, to be quite honest, so does Obama, although not to the skin-crawling level....yet. I just don't care for him.

It seems like things are really all f-ed up politically in our country. It scares me.

joechgo1 wrote:

Jane,

Burris gives me the creeps as well. He always has. But, so did/does Blago. And, to be quite honest, so does Obama, although not to the skin-crawling level....yet. I just don't care for him.

It seems like things are really all f-ed up politically in our country. It scares me.

Joe,
I feel the same as you do. It is a very scary time. I don't trust Obama as far as I could throw him.

It's like all hell has broken loose. We have a President that
openly admited to using Pot and Cocaine during college and for some time after graduating.

We have a White House Chief of Staff that didn't pay his taxes for 4 years, even after being told he owed it. He waits until after he is offered the White House job and then pays it. What really offends me is the fact that he signed a contract acknowledging that he would be responsible for paying his taxes, and to top it off, he received a check for the amount due and he pocketed it.

How many people has Obama chosen for various positions that have had tax problems? It's shocking what goes on in Politics and they get away with it.

As for Burris, did you hear him this morning admitting that he did try to raise money for Blago after all? He frigging lied.

And he is now admitting that the FBI questioned him before he was ever offered the Senate seat about him being on tape in regards to the pay for play.

My goodness he lied through his ass. How could he have gotten up in front of the country and lied like he did. He said consistently that he had never spoken to Blago or anyone connected to him about the Senate seat, and he knew nothing about the pay for play.

Now he is telling us the FBI had already questioned him about his part in all of this. He makes my skin crawl too Joe.

The man lied under oath too. He needs to be arrested and made pay the same price the rest of us would have to pay for lying to Congress, and for lying to the people of Illinois.

What a piece of crap this creepy little man is!

Jane,

I have always been more-leaning towards being a Democrat, but have voted for the person instead of the party.

Obama just scares me. I base a lot of my feelings on the fact that he was my senator and didn't do very much except run for president.

Burris is definitely back-peddling now! I hope they toss his tired old a$$ out of the senate. He has run for so many offices in the Chicago/IL areas and has been unelectable for many years now. His voice drives me nuts! LOL

I have to say I was shocked at the number of people who had to back out of the new administration because of not paying their taxes. This is something I will never understand, especially how people in positions of power can get away with not paying taxes when all us average folks have to. And I find it hard to believe that no one in the president's inner-circle knows this little about the people up for positions...and then resigning because of their lack of tax-paying. Shameful!

But, Burris has to go! It truly made my stomach turn when I heard Blag appointed him. Blag should not have appointed anyone.