Rod Blagojevich, Bobby Rush Play the Race Card

The race card is a time-honored one in Illinois politics.

And, with Governor Rod Blagojevich’s appointment of Roland Burris to the U.S. Senate seat vacated b by President-Elect Barack Obama, it is the second time it has been played in the game of gubernatorial corruption trial jury selection.

You will, of course, remember former Governor George Ryan’s not-so-subtle appeal to Chicago’s black community by his announcement of the moratorium on executions. That happened the day after an evening WBBM-Radio story that the selling of drivers’ licenses investigation was moving to Ryan himself.

Now, although Blagojevich is not at the jury stage of the legal process. He has (just) been arrested as a result of a criminal complaint.

But it’s not too early for one expected to stand trial in Chicago to try to win sympathy from potential jurors.

With the Governor having his strongest support in black neighborhoods, excuse me if I think Blagojevich is shopping for just one sympathetic juror with his pick of Roland Burris for U.S. Senate.

The seeming accidental appearance of Congressman Bobby Rush resulted in his playing the race card on a national level.

You see, Barack Obama MUST be replaced by a black or those opposing such a race-based selection are, well, racists.

Watch the pressure that will be put on Secretary of State Jesse White, who has said he will not process the paperwork for any U.S. Senate choice made by Blagojevich.

And, if White caves, which I do not expect, because he was elected with strong white support, the pressure on Democratic Party U.S. Senators with significant black electorates will be fun to watch.

Will trying to avoid the taint of Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption in Illinois be more important to U.S. Senate Democrats elsewhere in America than the wishes of their own black constituents?

As I said, the process will be fun to watch.

The United States Supreme Court may let the Democratic U.S. Senators off the hook. There is precedent from the U.S. House’s refusal to seat Adam Clayton Powell, a flamboyant black minister who played loose with his Education and Labor Committee budget. The Supreme Court ruled the House could not impose requirements that were not in the United States Constitution and who had been elected to Congress. Of course, the parallel is not complete since Burris will have been appointed.

Irritating, however, will be Roland Burris’ insistence in referring himself in the third person. I figure when a politician refers to himself by using his own name he is either insecure or too big for his britches.

We do know something about Burris’ outlook on public policy, however. He has actively advocated tax hikes.

Also pointing to the “race card” is law professor Bill Jacobson’s blog Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion.

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Those with long memories will remember that in 1982 I gave Roland Burris bragging rights that he had carried the State of Illinois by over 1 million votes. That was the year I ran on Jim Thompson’s ticket for State Comptroller.

I hear statements from some on TV that Burris has a spotless record.

No pay-to-play in his background.

Perhaps as you read in the Tribune tomorrow about the $20,000 or so in contributions to Rod Blagojevich from Burris’ law firm (and perhaps from other sources) and the contracts that law firm had as bond counsel and in certifying minority vendors for the Illinois Department of Transportation, perhaps you will be a bit suspicious. (I would note that the people sitting next to my office in the Department of Central Management Services certified minority and female-owned firms in-house. Why would an outside law firm be required. I even investigated a supposed female-owned firm and could only find a secretary who was a woman.)

And, when Burris was Governor Rod Blagojevich’s Director of (then, General Services, now) Central Management Services, he signed a lease for 910 S. Michigan Avenue for the Illinois Bureau of Employment Security and received contributions from its owner. And how did Unisys get that big contract from Burris?


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