The political fallout of the scandal of former Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is far from over. Instead, the fallout has grown much bigger. It has caused problems in the United States Senate. This also extends to Democratic Senator Roland Burris of Illinois.
One needs to ask: Why has the controversy escalated to something this major?
To answer that question, one needs to backtrack on November 4, 2008. This is the date in which then Democratic Senator Barack Obama of Illinois had won a landslide victory over Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona in the 2008 United States Presidential Elections. However, this does not have to do much with Obama, who is now the current US President.
With the victory, Obama vacated his US Senate seat. Someone else would have to fill it. Then Illinois Governor Blagojevich was arrested in early December on charges of selling Obama’s vacated seat for favors. One would assume that it would take awhile before Obama’s vacated seat would be filled. Blagojevich said that would appoint former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to fill the seat.
Senate Democrats said that they would accept anybody appointed by Blagojevich. But they soon yielded and allowed Burris to be seated. The heat was back on Blagojevich as a result. Blagojevich was unanimously impeached by the Illinois State Senate.
One would think that the controversy would be over. Everything could be dubbed as the “Blago-Fiasco.” This incident has lawmakers pushing for special elections for Senate vacancies instead of appointments by state governors.
So far, everything is far from over. The heat is now on Burris. He is under investigation of changing his story in regards to connections with Blagojevich’s inner circle. So far, there have been calls for Burris to resign. However, Burris had brushed off all calls of resignation.
Now, it has extended to Burris’ son Roland Burris II. Now Burris II is under investigation according to Pat Quinn, the current Illinois Governor. Quinn was the Lieutenant Governor under Blagojevich.
It was revealed that Burris II failed to pay taxes on time. Despite that, Burris II ended up working under Blagojevich as senior counsel for the Illinois Housing Development Authority. There is suspicious directed towards Burris II because the job was given three weeks after a mortgage company filed foreclosure on his home.
Also, Burris II is revealed to not have paid his taxes between 2004 and 2007. This brings more suspicious on Burris as a result. Overall, the controversy surrounding Burris continues. With that, new information ends up coming into light. One could expect Burris’ son to be under further scrutiny. In turn, it places Burris under even more scrutiny.
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