Ward on Words

He came to the swamplands of the Potomac swathed in a cloud of scandal. He's been ignored since the day he arrived at his new job. And today, my senator, Roland Burris, has me humming a little Janis Joplin right now (lyrics by the talented Kris Kristofferson)... "Freedom's just another word, for nothing left to lose And nothing's all that [Roddy] left me, yah." Yes, Roland Burris rolled into Washington with a a whole lotta nothing in his back pocket. He'd been handed the senate seat by a man charged with trying to sell it, Rod Blagojevich, the Kipling-quoting ex-gov of Illinois – and allegedly a future "Celebrity Apprentice" contestant. (Can one be The Donald's apprentice from behind bars? Because the ex-gov's someday going to stand trial on corruption charges and sometimes such things end up with a jail term....) So Roland Burris came to DC as a lame duck senator, with just two years left in the term Obama left when he became ...

I never thought I would say this, but Rodney Dangerfield and Roland Burris are like two peas in a pod. Sort of. Rodney Dangerfield made a career in comedy out of being the man who couldn't get no respect from anybody. Roland Burris is retiring from the Senate because he lacks the same thing - respect. It's certainly not news that Roland Burris is declining to seek a public vote of affirmation for the senate position he acquired from disgraced former Governor Blagojevich. But it was reported in yesterday's Chicago Tribune that Burris has been able to raise hardly any money at all since assuming the position of junior senator from Illinois - just $41,320 from April through June. This figure is clearly a huge improvement from the $845.00 (and no, that's not a typo!) he raised from January through March, but clearly insufficient to continue the charade of his candidacy. A senate seat is pricey real estate these days (requiring at least $3 million, accordi...

"Scandal Mushrooms" says a headline in today's Chicago Sun-Times . What sounds like a recipe for salmonella-infested fungi is instead the story about how Rod Blagojevich (when still governor) got Roland Burris' son a job prior to the elder Burris' appointment to the senate. (Sounds like Blagojevich served as an excellent employment agency for the Roland Burrises.) Roland Burris II (the senator's "mini-me") was facing foreclosure on his own home last summer when he was appointed ( and I am not making this up ) to a $75,000 job at the Illinois Housing Development Authority. His home was in foreclosure because he apparently owed ( again, I'm not making this up ) more than $30,000 to the IRS. Let's see if we can sum this up neatly... A governor arrested for trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat then appoints a man who has not only raised money to purchase the seat hosted "fundraisers" for Blago, but whose son owes his job to the...

My senator, Roland Burris, is speaking up on an issue top-of-mind these days - his integrity. It seems that people have questioned his integrity following his acceptance of disgraced Governor Blagojevich's senate appointment. They're beginning to wonder just how Mr. Squeaky Clean gained the attention of the poetry-spouting scam artist formerly known as the governor of Illinois. Apparently, there is a "major omission from his testimony...that appeared to contradict statements he made to a state House committee investigating former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's impeachment," says an AP article in today's Washington Post . Blagojevich's brother allegedly had asked Burris to host a fundraiser prior to becoming Senator, a fact Burris failed to mention in any hearings into the matter. Interesting - but not surprising - that a man seeking to sell the senate seat also sought to ask Burris to raise some $$s for him. The Chicago Tribune characterizes Burris...

As a resident of Illinois, I have absolutely nothing against Roland Burris. I found him to be an adequate public servant, if lacking in inspiration and vision, when he served as the state's Comptroller and Attorney General. I just don't want him to be my senator. And here, I disagree with august personalities like Senator Diane Feinstein and others who feel that the appointment of Burris is completely legit. Unfortunately, I don't see his appointment as Illinois' junior senator as anything more than a swindle. In fact, the appointment of Roland Burris only makes me think of Bernie Madoff, the $50 billion brains behind the biggest swindle known to man (thus far.) Now I categorically do not believe Roland Burris is a swindler - not by any stretch of the imagination. When I say that this situation reminds me of Madoff, it's because of people like Senator Feinstein, who feel that Governor Rod Blagojevich's capacity to choose should not be questioned merely...