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Transcripts of a tape made from an FBI wiretap shows Sen. Roland Burris promised to "personally do something" in response to an appeal for money for former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign fund. The promise came in a phone conversation with Blagojevich's brother, Robert Blagojevich, who is head of the campaign fund. Burris repeatedly says how much he wants to be appointed to President Barack Obama's former Senate seat. In response to an appeal for money from the governor's brother Burris says: "I will personally do something." The transcript was released Tuesday as part of a motion by the U.S. attorney's...

Illinois Senator Roland Burris, a democrat, was recorded on an FBI wiretap suggesting that he could write a check to disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's political campaign before the ousted governor appointed Burris to the Senate.

A federal judge today authorized the release of audio tapes of secret recordings of coversations between U.S. Sen. Roland Burris and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s brother to a Senate ethics committee. Burris’ criminal lawyer, Timothy Wright, federal prosecutors and an attorney for Robert Blagojevich were in court this morning before U.S. Judge James Holderman, who handles grand jury matters. Reporters were kicked out of the courtroom as the hearing was set to begin. Before the hearing, Wright said, “the truth will finally come out,’’ in an apparent reference to recordings that took place last November and involve discussions between Friends...

Here’s some unsolicited advice for Alexi Giannoulias, Jan Schakowsky, Roland Burris and Jesse Jackson Jr.: Just say no. Don’t run for the Democratic nomination for U.S. senator in 2010. Spare Illinois the mountain of muck that will surely erupt around your respective candidacies. But, in the heart of every politician, hope springs eternal. So does self-delusion. The Feb. 2, 2010 primary is slightly more than eight months away. And this much is certain: * Burris, the tainted, Blagojevich-appointed incumbent, is being investigated by both the U.S. Senate Ethics committee and Sangamon county state’s attorney on charges that he perjured himself...

In an unusual step, the Senate's top leaders were interviewed yesterday by the chamber's ethics committee in its ongoing investigation of Sen. Roland W. Burris's campaign to win appointment to the seat vacated by President Obama. Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) met with the committee, in separate 30-minute discussions, to recount their interactions with Burris (D) during his effort to be seated after he was appointed by then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D).

Burris turns up on Blago list of potential fund-raisers SENATE SEAT | Entry calls for $5K-$10K 3 weeks before he got appointment fund-raisers | Entry calls for $5K-$10K 3 weeks before he got appointment March 14, 2009 BY Staff Reporters Sen. Roland Burris appeared to have a possible unmet fund-raising commitment with then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's campaign three weeks before landing a controversial appointment to the U.S. Senate, an internal Blagojevich fund-raising document obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows. The list of potential donors, dated Dec. 3, contains an entry targeting Burris for up to $10,000 and indicates Burris intended to...

Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) is drawing single digits in a primary with two other candidates, according to a new poll. The Zogby poll, conducted for the Independent Insurance Agents of Illinois, suggests the question of whether or not Burris seeks a full term in the Senate in 2010 is largely inconsequential, because he stands almost no chance of winning it. The poll matched him with two statewide officeholders – Treasurer Alex Giannoulias and Comptroller Dan Hynes. Giannoulias led Hynes narrowly, 28-27, with Burris at just 5 percent. Giannoulias is the only Democrat officially in the race. Former Commerce Secretary William...

The potential field of candidates for President Obama's Senate seat -- for which Roland Burris may or may not be running -- keeps on growing. The Hill reports that Bill Daley, former Commerce Secretary under Bill Clinton, is on the verge of entering the race for President Obama's former Senate seat. Daley is the brother of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and son of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley. Daley was also a co-chairman of Obama's presidential campaign, and has reportedly spoken to top political talent including Larry Grisolano -- who works for David Axelrod and David Plouffe's...

The recent appointments of several U.S. senators are prompting a move to amend the Constitution. The proposed amendment would require a special election anytime a Senate seat is vacant and would prohibit governors from appointing senators. The House and Senate Judiciary committees hold a joint hearing this week. Senator Russ Feingold says the recent controversies surrounding gubernatorial appointments to the Senate make clear they are an anachronism that must end.

SPRINGFIELD---Over Republican objections, Democrats who run the Illinois Senate defeated legislation today that would have allowed for a special election to replace appointed Democratic U.S. Sen. Roland Burris before his term ends in January 2011. The 3-2 party-line vote at a Senate committee represented another setback for Republicans who have been pushing for a special election since then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich made the appointment weeks after his Dec. 9 arrest on political corruption charges. Among the federal accusations is that Blagojevich tried to sell the very Senate seat he later gave to Burris.

Sen. Dick Durbin, who advised Sen. Roland Burris last week to step down from the Senate, acknowledged today that racial considerations were at play in the decision by majority Democrats to seat Burris. Durbin, a fellow Democrat and Illinois' senior senator, noted that Rep. Bobby Rush, a Chicago Democrat, appeared at Gov. Rod Blagojevich's announcement of his appointment of Burris and used racially charged language to defend the appointment. "My colleague from Illinois, Congressman Bobby Rush, made strong statements along those (racial) lines," Durbin said on WGN-AM (720). "They were painful and hurtful, and it became part of this calculation."

Feb 26, 2009 10:45 pm US/Central Between Salary, State Pension Burris Makes $300K Illinois Offers Generous Benefits To Elected Officials Upon Retirement Reporting Jay Levine CHICAGO (CBS) ― A guaranteed salary for life with raises every year—that's the impossible dream for most of us. But not for Illinois' elected officials. A viewer e-mail to CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine asked what kind of Senate pension Roland Burris would get after his retirement. The answer: he won't get anything unless he runs and is elected for a full term. But Sen. Burris, who formally retired 13 years ago, has been...

Let's take Attorney General Holder up on his advice. No cowards needed in discussing race. Got it. So. The Democrats' Illinois Senator Dick Durbin refused to vote to oust a white president from office when, as the whole world knew, said president had lied about his role in the federal crime of sexual harassment. Yet when a black U.S. Senator, Durbin's Illinois colleague Roland Burris, is accused -- with as yet unproven allegations -- of lying to the Illinois House of Representatives, Durbin wants said black Senator's resignation post-haste. Well now. Isn't that white of him. And where, pray tell,...

Roland Burris is obviously going to put "U.S. Senator" on his mausoleum, but I can think of another entry that might belong there, as well: "Destroyer of the Illinois Democratic Party." Here's the dilemma Burris has created for his fellow Illinois Dems by refusing to resign. Burris not only denies the state's Democratic Governor Pat Quinn the power to appoint another Democrat to serve out the Senate term until a special election can be held in 2010; his continued presence in the Senate threatens to cast a cloud over those elections and hurt the Demcorats' chances in them. So why...

The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house.

SCANDAL MUSHROOMS | He serves as housing authority counsel despite facing foreclosure on his own home The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned. Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house. A spokeswoman...

A defiant Roland Burris returned to the Senate on Tuesday, staring down a resignation call from his Illinois colleague and a muted reaction from fellow Democrats. Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he privately urged Burris to step down and suggested Burris’s hold on his seat has become more precarious as he faces an Illinois perjury investigation and a Senate Ethics Committee probe. When informed of Durbin’s comments, Burris told The Hill: “I have no reaction to that.” Burris’s Democratic colleagues continued to stay silent Tuesday, suggesting an absence of public support. He participated in the party’s weekly policy lunch,...

Senator Burris supporters attacked racist Dick Durbin and other racist democrats who are asking Senator Burris to resign. They say there are racial motives involved.

Just across on MSNBC; video to follow. They met this morning, supposedly to hash out a deal in which Burris would stay on, serve out his term, and then retire next year when the special election rolls around. I can only assume that his egomania intervened and refused to let him pledge to go quietly, forcing Durbin to go nuclear. Over to you, Illinois legislature: If Burris quits, Gov. Quinn will appoint a Democrat on a temporary basis–someone, Quinn told me, who would be a caretaker. Quinn then would push the Illinois legislature to change the law for a special...

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the second ranking Senate Democrat, said Tuesday he advised embattled Illinois Sen. Roland Burris that he should resign from the Senate in light of the continued allegations against him over his dealings with their state's former governor, Rod Blagojevich. Emerging from a meeting with Sen. Burris, Sen. Durbin said he advised Sen. Burris to resign, but that the Democrat refused, saying he would continue to fight to clear his name. Sen. Durbin said that he told Sen. Burris that under the circumstances, it was doubtful that he would be able to win a...