Burris isolated as support quickly evaporates

Burris, barely a month in office following his appointment by tarnished ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, showed no immediate signs of stepping down.

CHICAGO (MCT) - Support for Illinois U.S. Sen. Roland Burris crumbled from Illinois to Washington on Friday as top Democrats pushed for his ouster: Gov. Patrick Quinn called for his resignation, his chief of staff walked out the door and the White House urged him to use the weekend to contemplate "what lays in his future."

But Burris, barely a month in office following his appointment by tarnished ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, showed no immediate signs of stepping down at the end of a politically damaging week. Self-admitted and media-uncovered disclosures left questions about his truthfulness in sworn statements and testimony to state lawmakers and comments to the public about the steps he took to ingratiate himself with Blagojevich.

The new demands for Burris to quit from Quinn, Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias and U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, D-Ill. _ along with the ominous-sounding advice provided by White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs _ left Burris in political quarantine. It also displayed Democrats overcoming concerns that seeking to oust the man who was the first black to hold statewide elected office in Illinois would offend the party's core African-American constituency.

Moreover, the decision by Burris' interim chief of staff, Darrell Thompson, to quit and rejoin his full-time post as a senior adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., demonstrated a lack of confidence by leading Senate Democrats in Burris' ability to withstand continued questioning over how he got the seat. Burris faces a perjury investigation in Springfield, Ill., and a preliminary inquiry by the Senate Ethics Committee.

On Friday, Burris toured a Veterans Affairs hospital and the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Chicago, but continued his vow not to speak to the media, whom he blames for taking his comments about contacts with the Blagojevich administration and casting him in a negative light.

"He's asked the public and officials to stop their rush to judgment and asked for the facts to come out," said Burris spokesman Jim O'Connor. "There is a legal process moving forward, and he's promised to fully cooperate."

The day before, Burris engaged in closed-door conversations with top advisers that included the subject of resignation, but the senator remained steadfast about staying on the job and said he believes he will be vindicated, said a source close to Burris familiar with the discussions.

At the White House, Gibbs stopped short of saying Obama wants Burris to step down. But Gibbs cited the varying testimony and statements in saying, "It might be important for Sen. Burris to take some time this weekend to either correct what has been said and certainly think of what lays in his future."

In Chicago, Quinn was more direct at a news conference where he called for Burris to step down quickly.

"I would ask my good friend, Sen. Roland Burris, to put the interests of the people of the Land of Lincoln first and foremost, ahead of his own, and step aside and resign from his office," Quinn said. He called Burris' acceptance of the appointment a "giant mistake" and said he wished the U.S. Senate had followed through on the initial vow of Reid and other Democratic leaders not to seat any appointee named by Blagojevich.

Burris was appointed three weeks after Blagojevich's Dec. 9 arrest on federal corruption charges that included allegedly selling the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama.

Quinn, himself only three weeks in office following Blagojevich's conviction at an Illinois Senate impeachment trial, also urged the Democratic-led legislature to approve legislation that would allow the governor to temporarily appoint a senator until special primary and general elections could be held. He vowed that any temporary appointment would be a true place-holder who had no interest in seeking the post in a special election, but offered no names.

But prospects for any quick action on special-election legislation were questionable with House Speaker Michael Madigan, who also chairs the state Democratic Party, expressing qualms over the $50 million statewide cost when the state faces a $9 billion deficit by June 2010.

Senate President John Cullerton, a Democrat, has backed special-election legislation in the past but "has not committed to any special proposal that is on the table now" and would take Quinn's plan under advisement.

Illinois Republicans, who have long pushed for a special election for the Senate seat, claimed a partial victory for Quinn's move. Still, they contended Democrats could have avoided the current chaos early on with a special election, but held off amid fears that voter dissatisfaction with Blagojevich could result in a Republican winning the seat.

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© 2009, Chicago Tribune.