I'm Shocked! A Corrupt Illinois Politician!

I live just outside of Chicago, so the idea of an Illinois politician that isn't corrupt to the core, shocks me. So when I read this, I wasn't surprised in the least.

Sen. Roland Burris promised to "personally do something" for Rod Blagojevich's campaign fund while pressing for the then-Illinois governor to appoint him to President Obama's former Senate seat, according to a wiretap transcript released Tuesday.
"Tell Rod to keep me in mind for that seat, would ya?" Burris tells Robert Blagojevich, who headed his brother's campaign fund, in a Nov. 13 phone conversation secretly taped by the FBI.

The remark came after Robert Blagojevich urged Burris to "keep me in mind and you know if you guys can just write checks that'd be fine, if we can't find a way for you to tie in."

"Okay, okay, well we, we, I, I will personally do something, okay," Burris says.

Earlier in the conversation, Burris and Robert Blagojevich explored the possibility that Burris might raise campaign money on a larger scale.

"I know I could give him a check," Burris said. "Myself."

You can read the whole transcript here. It is an interesting read to say the least.

Burris repeatedly said he wanted to help but added that major fundraising would have "so many negative connotations that Burris is trying to buy an appointment from the governor."

The transcript was released after U.S. District Chief Judge James F. Holderman approved making it available to the U.S. Senate ethics committee for its preliminary investigation of Burris's appointment.

If he wasn't buying the appointment, why ask for money in the first place? Too bad Jesse Jackson Jr. didn't raise the $1 million that sources near the former governor said he asked for. Then Burris would still be in the Illinois State House and Jackson would be governor.

The new senator has been under intense scrutiny since he was appointed by the now-ousted governor in December, and for changing his story multiple times about whether he promised anything in exchange for it. The ethics committee began a preliminary investigation into how Burris got his job, and the Sangamon County State's Attorney was asked to determine whether perjury charges were warranted.

Burris opens the wiretapped conversation by telling Robert Blagojevich: "I know you're calling telling me that you're gonna make me king of the world.

"And therefore I can go off to, you know, wherever and do all these great things," Burris adds. He says that he has "been trying to figure out what the heck, you know, I can do."

"We've had a number of conversations about, you know, anything you might be able to do," Robert Blagojevich says a moment later.

Burris says he is concerned about how fundraising on his part would be viewed if he got the Senate seat.

"And I'm trying to figure out how to deal with this and still be in the consideration for the appointment," he says.

"I hear ya," says Robert Blagojevich. "No, I hear ya."

The then-governor was arrested Dec. 9 on charges of scheming to sell or trade the Senate seat Obama was vacating and using the political muscle of the governor's office to squeeze people involved in state business for campaign contributions.

Here is what actually happened:

Barack Obama won the election for President on Nov. 7.

Ron Blagojevich decides that he can make a fast buck or three selling Obama's Senate Seat.

Ron Blagojevich sends his brother Robert to start the bidding.

Roland Burris wins said bidding war (no one knows exactly how much he had to pay to get it).

Ron Blagojevich was thrown out of office.

Senators Dick Durban (D, Il) and Harry Reid (D, Nev) demand that Burris come clean about his dealings with Blagojevich and swear that he never paid for the Senate seat.

Roland Burris swore that he was squeaky clean in this matter by swearing on a stack of bibles.

The stack of Bibles he swore upon.

Durban and Reid accepted Burris into the Senate.

Burris became the Junior Senator from Illinois.

No bribes were given, no crime was committed. Right!

What the nation is seeing is Illinois (Chicago) Politics at work. A political system destined to give the citizens of Chicago and Illinois the best government money can buy. Just not their money.