Drama in the Senate (Blago Appointment)

[Pangloss]

He isn't. There was a story about other people Blago asked last week, though I don't have it in front of me at the moment. He went pretty far down the totem pole before arriving at Burris, as I understand it.

 

There was more talk over the weekend about how the appointment is basically legitimate and should not be stoppable by the Senate. It's worth noting that this talk is not partisan in nature, and Republicans (though favoring a new election) are still supporting the Democrats on this. (They won't support Franken being seated either, and that's arguably partisan, but at least it's consistent.)

 

I don't like it but the more I think about it the more I think they're probably right. He's the governor, that's it. Seat him and move on.

 

Anyway the rumor mill has it that a compromise will allow that to happen. Buriss will be allowed to take the seat but only if he promises not to run again in 2010 (not enforcable, IMO), and only if the Illinois officials certify him (which they're not currently doing).

[doG]

...the true issue of a governor who cannot be trusted making the appointment.

 

Are such Executives excerpted in the 17th Amendment? Might this be one more supporting point for repealing the 17th Amendment?

[ecoli]

I don't see this as an interesting perspective at all. Burris isn't being prevented from being named, he's being prevented from being named by Blagojevich.

I think you guys are missing the point. Because Blago's reputation is tarnished anybody he picks is going to come over intense scrutiny, even more so than under normal circumstances. This is especially true because Obama specifically stated that Blago's choice should be thrown out (which is foolish because it needlessly damaged Blago's potential appointment.

 

The point, now, is that a political enemy of Burris who thinks that Burris might not be able to survive the intense scrutiny (people are going to be extra careful now) could have paid off Blago to make the appointment, effectively hurting Burris's political career.

 

By appointing someone, Blago can actually block somebody's appointment.

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But he's not preventing anyone from being appointed, since there's nothing stopping the next governor from picking the same person. It conceivably be a way of focusing scrutiny on the pick, but if there's nothing shady that that scrutiny uncovers (and so far with Burris, there isn't), then nothing has been accomplished.

 

The point is, if Blago had went away and not picked anybody, the next governor would not be under such scrutiny.

[Sisyphus]

Again, though, scrutiny is only that. It's not inherently damaging. And if somebody paid him off to seat Burris, they also paid him off to try to seat a bunch of other people. Burris was, as Pangloss says, "pretty far down the totem pole."

[iNow]

Are such Executives excerpted in the 17th Amendment? Might this be one more supporting point for repealing the 17th Amendment?

 

Interesting idea... if not repealed, then at least itself amended. Didn't we have a thread on this here? I can't seem to find it.

[Pangloss]

Democrats changed their minds on this and decided to seat Burris, doing lots of photo ops this morning.

 

There was a story out of Chicago by a local TV station this morning that Burris turns out to be connected to Blago after all, in the form of campaign contributions followed by hundreds of thousands of dollars of state business. But there was no indication of a Senate seat buyoff and the story was only picked up by Fox News Channel. Most of the media seems to be ignoring it and there may not be much to it.

 

I'm thinking the Democratic leadership realized it was kinda shooting itself in the foot here (in all sorts of ways) and just decided to let it happen. It's a small victory for Blago but it probably won't help him in the long run, and they don't look hypocritical in seating the guy, so they might as well do it.

[john5746]

I think it was pretty crappy of Burris to accept the appointment and allow the race baiting to go on(didn't speak against it). He might be qualified and do a decent job, but it tells me something of his character, IMO.