Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich defied fellow Democrats by appointing a successor on Tuesday to fill Barack Obama’s vacant United States Senate seat — the seat the governor is charged with trying to sell to the highest bidder.
The move, which a top state official and Senate Democrats vowed to block, revived the turmoil tied to the embattled governor that has distracted Obama and his team ahead of the US president-elect’s inauguration on January 20.
Blagojevich, ignoring warnings from within his own party not to make an appointment to Obama’s empty seat, named Roland Burris (71) a former Illinois attorney general, fellow Democrat and frequent candidate.
”It’s a very shrewd political move on the governor’s part,” political analyst Don Rose said. ”The Senate has said it won’t accept anybody that he proposes, but here they’ve come up with an African-American with deep roots in the black community.”
Obama, who will take office as the first black president in US history, said he agreed with the position of the Senate Democrats, adding it was ”extremely disappointing” that Blagojevich chose to ignore them.
”I believe the best resolution would be for the governor to resign his office and allow a lawful and appropriate process of succession to take place,” Obama said in a statement.
Blagojevich was arrested by FBI agents on December 9 on charges he attempted to solicit campaign contributions and other political favours. Prosecutors said court-approved wiretaps show he was anxious to trade the Senate seat for campaign cash, a high-paid job, an ambassadorship or Cabinet post.
The governor has denied doing anything wrong, dismissing calls to resign and give up his sole power to make the Senate appointment, which will last until 2010.
”Please don’t allow the allegations against me to taint this good and honest man,” Blagojevich told a raucous news conference disrupted by shouts from Burris supporters.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, another black Democrat, said he would not sign off on the appointment’s paperwork, which could stop it from going forward.
Democratic leaders in the Senate said they would try to block Burris because he would ”serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety”.
Members could refuse to administer the oath of office and refer the matter to a committee to investigate.
When the Senate reconvenes next, Democrats will hold at least 57 of the 100 seats. With a cloud over the Illinois seat and a Minnesota race still undecided, Democrats will still fall short of the 60 votes needed to clear procedural roadblocks.
Impeachment on track?
Blagojevich’s appointment revived calls among Democrats for the governor to either resign or be impeached quickly, while Republicans sought to fill the seat with a special election.
”The next senator of Illinois should be chosen in the light of day through a special election, and not in the back rooms of Washington or Springfield,” said Senator John Cornyn of Texas.
But a special election was unlikely due to the high cost and amount of time involved, said Steve Brown, spokesperson for Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan. He said impeachment proceedings that began two weeks ago were well under way.
Blagojevich said he was compelled to appoint Burris because the Illinois legislature had put off a special election.
Congressman Bobby Rush, a black Democrat from Chicago who previously defeated Obama in a congressional election, urged senators not to block the appointment of Burris.
”So I applaud the governor for his decision. And I will ask you to not hang and lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer,” said Rush, who attended the press conference.
Illinois Lieutenant governor Pat Quinn, also a Democrat, again urged Blagojevich to resign or be impeached, which would make Quinn governor.
Quinn called Tuesday’s appointment ”provocative” and said Burris made a mistake by accepting.
Burris, a lawyer, was the first African-American elected to statewide office in Illinois in 1978 when he was voted state comptroller. He was state attorney general from 1991 to 1995.
He has run unsuccessfully several times for higher office, including a bid for the Senate in 1984 and governor in 1994.
Burris and his political consulting firm have donated about $15 000 to Blagojevich’s campaigns since 2002. – Reuters