Burris Promised Blago $1500 (or $10,000?) Check Just Before Being Appointed Senator

That's the Chicago Way. And that's how you get a Senate appointment.

(Slublog's special Blago-centric flaming skull)

In a November conversation caught on an FBI wiretap, Roland Burris promised Gov. Rod Blagojevich�s brother that he�d write the governor a campaign check by mid-December, Burris� lawyer said today.

That was about a month before Rod Blagojevich appointed Burris to the U.S. Senate.

But lawyer Timothy Wright told the Chicago Sun-Times today that his client never sent the check because he believed it wasn�t a good idea given Burris� interest in the U.S. Senate seat appointment. Wright said Burris� decision not to send the check had nothing to do with Blagojevich�s Dec. 9 arrest.
Burris made his decision before the arrest, Wright said.

�Sen. Burris, as he said, decided he couldn�t send a check because it wouldn�t look good,� Wright said.

Burris did not mention a promise of a check in a Feb. 4 sworn affidavit that Burris submitted to an Illinois House panel investigating Rod Blagojevich�s impeachment. That affidavit sought to supplement Burris� testimony before a House panel, where Burris only mentioned having contact with Lon Monk with regard to the appointment.

But Wright said the amount of the check was to be $1,500. The conversation with Robert Blagojevich happened when Burris was interested in the U.S. Senate. Wright said Burris� answers to the House panel have been consistent, and he has made repeated efforts to be as complete as possible to the public.

Wright scoffed at the notion that a promise of a check was part of any pay-to-play scheme.

�Fifteen hundred dollars? Come on� Wright said. �Burris had been a fund-raiser in years past. This had nothing to do with pay-to-play.�

Actually, parts of this story is old, from February. The new element of it is that the wiretapped conversations are being released and, critically, that Blago's brother didn't merely ask for a check; one was promised.

Note that the headline suggests that the check might have been for $10,000. I see no evidence that the promised amount was $1500 -- only Burris' mouthpiece says this. When the story broke in February, it was reported that Blago's brother had solicited $10,000.

Whether Burris negotiated that down to $1500, I don't know. But until I hear the transcript specifying the $1500 amount, I'm not accepting that figure. Maybe the personal check from Burris was to be $1500, with an additional $8500 in promised fund-raising by Burris' pals.

I don't think someone of Burris' shady background quibbles over $10,000 when it comes to a valuable f'n' thing like a Senate seat.

posted by Ace at 04:10 PM

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