|
Attorney General Roland Burris
|
By Sean Yoes
AFRO Staff Writer
(December 30, 2008) - While Illinois lawmakers debate whether to begin the impeachment process for their embattled governor, Rod Blagojevich has tapped former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacated Senate seat.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Blagojevich announced his choice, referring to Burris as a “wise and distinguished senior statesman” with “unquestioned integrity.”
Blagojevich added, “Please don’t let the allegations against me taint this good and honest man.”
Standing at Blagojevich’s side during the press conference, Burris said, “Faced with these challenges and challenged with these crises, it is incomprehensible that the people of the great state of Illinois will enter the 111th Congress short-handed. We need leadership in Washington.”
Blagojevich has been under tremendous pressure to resign as governor since his arrest earlier this month on federal corruption charges. The charges are linked to Blagojevich’s alleged attempts to “sell” Obama’s Senate seat to “the highest bidder.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has warned Blagojevich that Senate Democrats will not seat anyone the governor appoints.
“It is truly regrettable that…Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety,” Reid said in a statement Tuesday.
Burris, 71, who served as Illinois Attorney General from 1991 to 1995, is a graduate of Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C.
He was born and raised in the small Southern Illinois community of Centralia and received his B.A. degree in political science from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He rose from tax accountant of the Continental Illinois National Bank to become the bank’s vice president. And in 1973, he became director of the Illinois Department of General Services.
In 1978, Burris was elected comptroller, becoming the first African American elected to statewide constitutional office in Illinois.
In 1995, Burris ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Chicago, losing to incumbent Richard Daley, and in 1998 and 2002 he made unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination for governor of Illinois.
Burris is currently manager/CEO of Burris & Lebed Consulting LLC, a public relations and political strategies firm; he also serves as counsel to Gonzalez, Saggio and Harlan, an influential Chicago-based law firm.
Burris is married to Berlean Burris, Ph.D. They have a son and a daughter.