rod blagojevich

Following yesterday’s release of a secretly taped conversation between Roland Burris and the brother of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), there’s been a great deal of focus on Burris’ vow to “personally do something” for the governor “before the 15th of December.”
The governor was arrested six days before the Dec. 15 deadline, so we’ll [...]

Just how many political lives does Roland Burris have?
The Democratic senator from Illinois — appointed to the upper chamber in January amid a wave of controversy over then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.), who tapped Burris for the post — has distanced himself from his disgraced appointer skillfully enough to have kept his seat this long despite [...]

This will take some explaining.
Two powerhouses in Chicago’s Indian-American community told the team of then-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) would raise $5 million for the governor in return for the Senate seat being vacated by Barack Obama, the Chicago Sun-Times reported today.
The first [approach] came from Rajinder Bedi, a [...]

The non-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics has launched a preliminary investigation into the actions of Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) surrounding the bribery allegations against former Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D), The Chicago Sun-Times reported this afternoon.
Blagojevich has claimed that Jackson’s emissaries had offered cash to the Illinois governor in return for an appointment to the [...]

If you’re near a television set, pick up your remote and go to CNN or MSNBC right now. In one minute Rod Blagojevich will have the floor of the Illinois State Senate, and the ear of the nation, for an hour and half as he delivers the closing argument to his corruption/impeachment saga.
Will he resign? [...]

Have Illinois legislators read the draft stimulus bill? They might want to:
None of the funds provided by this Act may be made available to the State of Illinois, or any agency of the State, unless (1) the use of such funds by the State is approved in legislation enacted by the State after the date [...]

When House Democratic leaders unveiled their $825 billion stimulus wish-list last week, it marked only the beginning of a much longer process to forge the proposal upon which many argue the economy depends.
Indeed, the House Appropriations Committee yesterday tweaked the bill a bit, adding amendments requiring that projects funded by the stimulus use only U.S.-made [...]

Senate Democratic leaders have agreed to seat Roland Burris after a week-long battle to prevent him from replacing President-elect Barack Obama as the junior senator from Illinois.
Burris was appointed Dec. 30 by disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, less than a month after the governor was arrested for allegedly scheming to “sell” the seat.

Well, that was the quick way to avoid charges of hypocrisy.
In the face of Republican opposition to the seating of Minnesota Democrat Al Franken, who was named the winner of his Senate contest yesterday, Senate Democrats have decided that Franken won’t be sworn in with the rest of the chamber this afternoon.
Democrats had hoped to [...]

It wasn’t the way the Democrats wanted to ring in the 111th Congress, particularly following their sweeping election wins in November.
Yet it appears that Roland Burris, the former Illinois attorney general appointed by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) last month to fill Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, has every intention of arriving at the [...]