Tag: IL-Sen

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Newly appointed Sen. Roland Burris opened a campaign fund to raise money for a 2010 election bid as it looks like he may face a Democratic primary challenge: State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is mulling a Senate run, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky isn’t ruling it out.

Trust me on this — Giannoulias, who the ability to self-finance a campaign, is looking very closely at challenging Burris. Schakowsky is also considering her first statewide run. An issue for Burris — in office for a week — would be to explain to Illinois voters in the February 2010 Democratic Illinois primary why he took an appointment from the tainted Gov. Blagojevich…

From the pen of the Mighty and Fearless Harry Reid (and Dick Durbin):

The Secretary of the Senate has determined that the new credentials presented today on behalf of Mr. Burris now satisfy Senate Rules and validate his appointment to the vacant Illinois Senate seat. In addition, as we requested, Mr. Burris has provided sworn testimony before the Illinois House Committee on Impeachment regarding the circumstances of his appointment.

“We have spoken to Mr. Burris to let him know that he is now the Senator-designate from Illinois and as such, will be accorded all the rights and privileges of a Senator-elect.

“Accordingly, barring objections from Senate Republicans, we expect Senator-designee Burris to be sworn in and formally seated later this week. We are working with him and the office of the Vice President to determine the date and time of the swearing-in.

This looks like a pretty serious backtrack for Handsome Harry:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Sunday maintained that the appointment of Illinois Democrat Roland Burris to the Senate seat left vacant by the election of President-elect Barack Obama is under a cloud of suspicion, but the Nevada Democrat hinted the door may be open for discussion.

“I’m a trial lawyer. There’s always room to negotiate,” Reid said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I’m a trial lawyer” – oy vey. Anyway… this is quite an about-face from last Tuesday, when Senate Dems said no way, no how to Roland Burris:

Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus.

I think this whole episode is going to wind up being pretty embarrassing for Harry Reid, and a lot of the wounds are gonna be self-inflicted.

For all of you Castlevania fans out there. 😀  Though, even if you aren’t, this may still be funny.

Patrick Fitzgerald: Resign, governor! You don’t belong in this office!

Rod Blagoyevich: It was not by my hand that I am once again given office! I was elected here by constituents, who wished to pay me a salary!

PatFitz: Salary?! You embezzle people’s money, and make them your pawns!

Blago: Perhaps the same could be said of all politicians.

PatFitz: Your words are as empty as your ethics! The people of Illinois ill need a governor such as you!

Blago: What is a Senate seat? A f***in’ big deal of political clout!  But enough talk…have at you!

Taken and revised from my post here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pos… .  That post also includes the source quote, if you’re unfamiliar with it.

Despite basically everyone’s warnings that his choice wouldn’t be seated by the Senate, Rod Blagojevich is forcing national dems into a game of chicken by appointing Roland Burris.

http://www.chicagobreakingnews…

Some background on Burris, he was a former 3-term State Comptroller from 1979-91, which was followed by a term as Illinois AG from 91-95. He was the first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois. But he’s also had a lot of difficulty winning Democratic primaries as he’s lost the 84 senate primary to Paul Simon and the 95 Mayoral primary and the 94, 98, and 02 Gov. primaries.

Despite his less than stellar electoral record, and the fact that he’ll be 73 on election day 2010 I’m not sure Burris will be be so compliant in being a placeholder. He’s made comments about Blago’s choice needing to be able to win a full term.

The Seminal has a great scoop:

Last night at the Midwest Academy Awards and 35th Anniversary Celebration in Washington, DC, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown introduced Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky by saying, “We may have a special election in Illinois, and if Jan Schakowsky runs, I’ll support her.”

At the end of her speech, Schakowsky threw her hat in the ring, announcing that she was “passing around a clipboard” for people to sign up to be on an organizing committee for her “Senate race, and a basket for donations will follow right behind.” The audience cheered.

In related news, it looks like GOP Rep. Peter Roskam might be interested as well:

Kirk isn’t the only credible Illinois Republican mulling a Senate bid. A source close to Rep. Peter J. Roskam said the second-term congressman is also “very interested” in running for the Senate seat and wouldn’t automatically defer to Kirk. Roskam has a more conservative voting record than Kirk and has won election to a suburban Chicago seat during two rough election cycles for the GOP.

This is potentially great news. I’d love to see Roskam and Kirk bash each other to bits in a GOP primary. And I think, despite Kirk’s seniority, there’s a good chance Roskam could win by appealing to conservative elements in the Republican Party. Who knows – maybe the Club for Growth would get involved on his behalf.

Jeremiah has more in a diary here.

Dailykos has a diary up on this front-paged here: http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…

Original Article: http://www.theseminal.com/2008…

At the midwest acadamy awards last night:

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown introduced Illinois Representative Jan Schakowsky by saying, “We may have a special election in Illinois, and if Jan Schakowsky runs, I’ll support her.”

That wasn’t all to happen:

At the end of her speech, Schakowsky threw her hat in the ring, announcing that she was “passing around a clipboard” for people to sign up to be on an organizing committee for her “Senate race, and a basket for donations will follow right behind.” The audience cheered.

As for Roskam: http://www.politico.com/news/s…

A source close to Rep. Peter J. Roskam said the second-term congressman is also “very interested” in running for the Senate seat and wouldn’t automatically defer to Kirk. Roskam has a more conservative voting record than Kirk and has won election to a suburban Chicago seat during two rough election cycles for the GOP.  

For the sake of comparison, here are the PVI’s for each congressperson, (I’m using the old PVI’s and that may be more useful since Obama will not be on the ballot in 2010 or in a special election)

IL-06 (Roskam) has a PVI of R+3

IL-09 (Schakowsky) has a PVI of D+20

IL-10 (Kirk) has a PVI of D+4

Illinois as a whole has an old PVI of D+9.  

GOP Rep. Mark Kirk is seriously considering a run for Barack Obama’s seat if a special election occurs:

In an interview Wednesday morning, Kirk said he was looking at running but thought state legislators’ first priority should be getting Blagojevich out of office.

“I will look at it,” Kirk said. “As far as the people of Illinois, the first job is not to decide how we pick a Senator. The first job is getting rid of the governor.”

But Kirk doesn’t stop there. Displaying his characteristic style of douchebaggery, the faux moderate rips into five of the six Senate candidates mentioned in the federal complaint against Blago:

Kirk did not hold back his disdain for “Senate Candidates one through five” mentioned the federal complaint, at least one of whom the governor said offered money upfront in return for the Senate appointment.

“I think if they were heavily involved with Rod Blagojevich, they will not be viable for a special election – if they can hold public office at all,” Kirk said.

The Illinois Republican said Senate candidates one through five “need to sign criminal attorneys and try to protect themselves against coming indictments.”

This is pretty vile, considering that it’s not clear that any candidates alluded to in the indictment (aside from possibly numbers four and five) engaged in anything shady, especially Senate Candidate #1, who most assume is Valerie Jarrett — someone who withdrew her name from consideration after earning the ire of Blago for not offering him anything other than “appreciation” for an appointment.

From the FBI we learn about 6 unnamed Senate candidates.  But who are they?

Senate Candidate 1: The favorite of Change to Win (labor).  This candidate is a woman, but took her name out of consideration.  Apparently the only thing she promised Blago was her appreciation.

Senate Candidate 2: Ben Smith at Politico figures it’s Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

Senate Candidate 3: Only mentioned in passing as a comparison to Senate Candidate 3.

Senate Candidate 4: A Deputy Governor in Illinois who could be counted on the resign the seat and let Blago take it over if he (Blago) was impeached.  From a Dec. 1 press release from this year we learn there are 3 Deputy Governors of Illinois: Dean Martinez, Bob Greenlee, and Louanner Peters.

Senate Candidate 5: Promised to raise $500,000 to Blago’s re-election campaign.  This candidate is male.  Ben Smith seems to lean towards State Senate President Emil Jones rather than Rep. Jesse Jackson.

Senate Candidate 6: A wealthy person from Illinois.  According to Blago’s advisor, it would be hard to appoint this person to the seat.

Dick Durbin has a good idea:

A former state legislator, Durbin said he spoke to a former colleague in the Illinois legislature early Tuesday to suggest a special election instead of any gubernatorial appointment.

“If the allegations are proven true, he has clearly abused the public trust,” Durbin said of Blagojevich. “I think the Illinois legislature should enact a law as quickly as possible calling for a special election to fill the Senate vacancy of Barack Obama. No appointment by this governor under these circumstances can produce a credible replacement.”

Not only is this the right thing to do, it’d also give us something to discuss over the coming months. But if this is going to happen, the state legislature needs to scramble and get this law passed as quickly as possible.

(Hat-tip: Tyler O.)

UPDATE: From The Hill:

The Illinois state House is set to reconvene Monday to consider a bill that would fill President-elect Obama’s old Senate seat by special election, according to a spokesman for Illinois state House Speaker Michael Madigan (D).

The state House is likely to return Monday, with the bill taking two days to pass, Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said.