Update from Illinois

From The Political Wire:

Cohen Quits Race in Illinois
Scott Lee Cohen (D), the Democratic nominee for Illinois lieutenant governor, "removed himself from the campaign Sunday, freeing Gov. Pat Quinn from the baggage Cohen brought to the ticket, but also leaving him without a running mate," NBC Chicago reports.

Said Cohen: "I'm someone who made mistakes in my life. And look where I am. If I let you down I"m sorry".

It's never boring.

More on Roland Burris - Yet Another Revelation

Not only did Burris fail to mention that he was approached for a bribe by someone in the Blago camp.... but it now looks like he failed to mention an even more explosive fact - That he actually tried to pay the bribe.

Lord Please Have Mercy!!!!

This is why I was so skeptical and cautious about Burris... this is why I am cautious when Black folks are screaming about the need for a Black person to be in a certain position just because they are Black (I really hate that nonsense) ignoring all context - ignoring everything else about the individual or the circumstances surrounding the appointment. This kind of blind race allegiance can lead down a rat hole so easily and leave Black folks worse off in the end. I wish more Black people would stop with this mentality... and realize that they should judge individuals on the merits.... not based on Race. I believe that race can be a factor sometimes.... but not most of the time and it certainly shouldn't be the only factor or even factor number one. An occasional factor under certain circumstances-- yes. Blind allegiance for a Black person at all costs...because they are Black-- absolutely not. This is one of the reasons why Black folks are in the condition that they are in today. The racial litmus test has not been good for them (although many are so brain screwed that they are convinced that it has been great for them). Just look at America's chocolate cities where Blacks have been running the show for years. And yes, I still believe that Tammy Duckworth (a white woman...an extraordinary woman) would have been a kick ass Senator...probably one of the greatest to ever serve. But Negroes are too worried about skin color (as if they have a claim on a Senate seat based on some legally established race quota... it's sickening and embarrassing).

Now exactly what I stated would happen...is probably going to happen after this. Burris has made the road tougher for decent, qualified Blacks who may seek a Senate seat in the future. Future Black Senate candidates will have to be burdened by this Bull----. We know that's true. Blacks are so often judged by the wider society by what some other fool has done before...even when we have nothing to do with that person. It happens in the workplace all the time (I can tell you some stories that involved me in the workplace...but i'll spare you). This is especially true when Blacks are just breaking ground in a new area.... just like the U.S. Senate...an institution where Blacks are so much of a minority and where they are slowly trying to gain footing. This will make it especially difficult for those Black candidates who may come behind Burris. The damage is incalculable.

Harry Reid should be removed from his position immediately.... There are plenty of Democratic Senators who could provide real leadership. Reid is a disgrace. Not only did Reid cave and embarrass himself and his Party... but he helped to facilitate and enable Burris and Blago. Nice going.

Oh.. by the way... Burris is now under criminal investigation in Illinois for all of this. (See additional report from the New York Times). Hopefully he will be indicted and removed from office (only a remote possibility at this point, but it's the most hopeful sign in months that something might finally be done).

_______________________

Related Post

Politico - Burris Admits to Fundraising Effort

Governor Rod Blagojevich Removed From Office

In an unanimous vote, the Illinois Senate has voted to remove Rod Blagojevich from office.

There was another vote to deny him from ever holding office in Illinois again- Unanimous again.

Blago Compares His Problems with Mandela, MLK and Gandhi

Blago is at it again. First he invoked the attack on Pearl Harbor to describe the morning of his arrest by the FBI. Now, as part of his media tour, he has compared his problems with the struggles of Nelson Mandela, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mohandas Gandhi. Hear story from NPR.

Here is what he stated on NBC's Today Show Sunday, when reflecting on the December 9th, 2008 arrest at his home:

"I thought about Mandela, Dr. King and Gandhi and tried to put some perspective to all this and that is what I am doing now."

You almost have to see it to believe it.

Blago's narcissism, and insanity are finally overtaking him just as I suspected they would. It should be pretty clear to folks at this point that Blago's elevator does not go up to the top floor. He wants everyone to know that this whole ordeal is part of a conspiracy against him (by a Democratically controlled State). He has even taken the step of hiring a Public Relations firm as part of his effort to change public opinion. He won't attend his State Senate impeachment trial (because he knows he's guilty), but he'll go through all the trouble and expense of hiring a PR firm.

LOL


Almost as annoying as Blago is the willingness on the part of the mainstream media to help him with his tour of the TV networks. They want to give him a platform for his propaganda and fulfill his desire for constant attention. They will basically do anything for ratings.

Even attorney Ed Genson can't deal with Blago's nonsense. Genson announced over the weekend that he was resigning as Blago's attorney in the Federal criminal case because Blago wouldn't listen to counsel. Wow... that's a shocker. Apparently Genson was tired of Blago running his mouth and was against the idea of having a media tour. But Genson must not have understood...that this whole fiasco has nothing to do with Blago wanting to defend himself... it has always been about The Rod Blagojevich Show and this man's incessant need to be in the spotlight. Genson had already decided not to represent Blago in his impeachment case.

Genson's comments over the weekend:

"I have been practicing law for 44 years. I never require a client to do what I say, but I do require them to at least listen to what I say," Genson said. "I believe in this case it would be better off, and I intend to withdraw as counsel in this case. And I wish the governor good luck and Godspeed."

Additional Commentary from the Chicago Tribune Blog

Latest Chapter In 'As The Senate Seat Turns'

Thanks to Icebergslim for the updates on the Illinois Senate Seat Saga.

From TPM:

Durbin: We Still Won't Seat Burris
By Eric Kleefeld - January 9, 2009, 5:25PM
Dick Durbin just made a very bold announcement, in the wake of the Illinois Supreme Court decision that Roland Burris does not need the Secretary of State's signature on his certificate: As far as the Senate is concerned, Burris still needs that signature for his appointment to be legal and valid, and the seat will just have to stay vacant.

"At this point we've clearly reached an impasse," Durbin told reporters in Chicago.

Most legal scholars at this point believe the Burris appointment to be legal, and that an attempt to keep Burris out can be successfully challenged in court. But it's become obvious by now what Durbin's and the whole Democratic leadership's strategy is: Keep stalling on this thing long enough for Rod Blagojevich to be kicked out of office.

Now, follow that. The Illinois Supreme Court has declared that Roland Burris DOES NOT NEED the Secretary of State's Signature. But, Durbin's saying it doesn't matter.

Durbin is saying that the seat should remain vacant.

VACANT?

Illinois U.S. Senate seat to stay vacant - Durbin
REUTERS
Reuters North American News Service
Jan 09, 2009 17:05 EST

CHICAGO (Reuters) - No one can occupy the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama until the governor of Illinois is removed and a new appointment can be certified, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said Friday.

Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, was reacting to the Illinois Supreme Court's ruling denying a motion by Roland Burris that the state's secretary of state certify his appointment to the seat.

Secretary of State Jesse White has refused to sign the appointment by Gov. Rod Blagojevich because of corruption charges against the governor, which included accusations he tried to sell the seat.

"At this point we've clearly reached an impasse," Durbin told reporters at his Chicago office.

He said the Senate seat could remain vacant until Blagojevich is removed from office and the lieutenant governor takes over, making a fresh appointment.

He said the Senate cannot waive a 125-year-old rule requiring the signatures of both the governor and the secretary of state on any election or appointment. (Reporting by Andrew Stern; editing by Michael Conlon and John O'Callaghan)

Well Dick, I'm glad that signature is SOOOO important to you, cause now your worries are over.

Why?

Because Illinois Secretary of State Jesse " They're not going to make ME the patsy" White has indeed signed on the dotted line.

From Politico.com:

Following a decision by the Illinois Supreme Court, Jesse White, the Illinois secretary of state, has certified Roland Burris' appointment to the Senate, removing a major roadblock blocking Burris' ascension to the body.

According to his office, White has signed a certificate saying that Roland Burris' appointment document is "true and accurate."

Um, Dick...Harry....

The shyt ain't subtle and you ain't slick. Stevie Wonder can see your stalling tactics.

But, it's time for you two to act like GROWN MEN.

Point 1: Admit you got PUNKED by Blago
Point 2: Swear Roland Burris in and get about the business of this country.

Well, isn't this interesting: Reid pressured Blagojevich not to appoint Jackson Jr. to Obama’s U.S. Senate seat

Uh huh.

How it gets more interesting by the minute.

According to the Chicago Sun-Times:

Reid pressured Blagojevich not to appoint Jackson Jr. to Obama’s U.S. Senate seat
January 2, 2009
BY NATASHA KORECKI, CHRIS FUSCO AND LYNN SWEET

Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.

Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.

Sources say the Senate majority leader pushed against Jackson and Davis — both democratic congressmen from Illinois — and against Jones — the Illinois Senate president who is the political godfather of President-elect Barack Obama — because he did not believe the three men were electable. He feared losing the seat to a Republican in a future election.

Read rest of the article at link above.

First of all, this isn't about Davis or Jones, who would have been nothing but caretakers anyway. Actually, scratch Davis. Nobody thinking who actually follows Danny Davis, thought that he was SINCERELY considering leaving his SAFE Congressional seat, and the ability to pad that federal pension for another easy decade for something that would be OVER in 2010.

Jones, who had retired from the Illinois Senate, would have been a caretaker. Period. He's in his 70's, and this would have been the capper for a long public service career.

No. This was all about Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Deciding from ' on high', that Jesse Jackson, Jr. couldn't win.

Well, excuse me, if I think that's up to Jesse Jackson, Jr. to try and if he doesn't win in a Democratic Primary in 2010, so be it. But, if he won the Democratic Primary, it would be up to the ILLINOIS Democratic Party to put out and help him get over the hump in 2010.

Now, we 'hear', from the likes of Politico.com :

Sources say Blagojevich’s s successor if he’s removed from office, Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, is likely to point someone who is African- American, but likely not Burris because of the taint or Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill), who is often mentioned as a possibility but would be too controversial.

Sources said the choice is likely to be someone young and dynamic, like Dan Seals, who ran in a northeast Illinois House district in 2006 and 2008. It needs to be someone who would appeal to the white Republicans in downstate Illinois, to prevent the seat going to the GOP in a future election.

Let me get this straight right now.

The 'Black Street' don't know Dan Seals. I know him,because I'm a poltiical junkie, but color me cynical about this. I'm going to tell you why this is SUS-PECT to me. Quinn had all the time to get this out to the newspapers when this first broke about Blago (to position himself for when he became Governor). You don't nominate someone Black that Black people have never heard of, and has no connection to the Black community - other than skin color.

If Quinn had 'dropped' his intentions of nominating someone African-American, or at least making it clear that Black folks were on this list, it would be a whole other story. But, He DID NOT.

Sorry, if my cynical self isn't buying it.

What is his base?

I'm just askin'.

He's a Half-Black man with a NON-Black wife, who has NO Chicago connections whatsoever. The Black vote IS Cook County, and we don't know him.

So, the thought that they'd throw away Burris - who IS well known and rooted in the Black community.

For Seals, who is a NOBODY in the Black community.

I know some folks live in post-Obama racial delusion. But, wake up.

That SEALS would be chosen over the numerous presently elected Black officials?

Uh huh.

Yes, Barack Obama was a nobody. But, he was a nobody who built his FOUNDATION in the Black community.

I don't speak of where other folks live. I'm a Chicago gal. I went east to school, but came back home after college and graduate school.

Barack Obama built his foundation in the Black community. Folks want to pretend that I don't know where I live.

Dan Seals doesn't live in the Black Community. He doesn't work in the Black community. He doesn't work for the Black community. He has absolutely NO connection to the Black community of Cook County, and we ARE the Black vote in Illinois.

Black folk in Cook County aren't going to be his ' base', just because he's Black. He doesn't even have a political base where he lives, because he couldn't even win the elections where he ran in not one, BUT TWO OVERWHELMINGLY PRO-DEMOCRATIC CYCLES.

If folks want to live in post-racial eutopia, that's fine. But, I'm talking about Illinois politics. And, choosing a Black candidate who doesn't even have a Black voting base from which to depend upon and build for the 2010 Democratic Primary, makes even the possibility of the choice of Seals, just as tokenist as Clarence Thomas.

The beauty and barbershops don't know Dan Seals. And can't point to one reason to choose him - other than he's Black, and despite what folks might think - Black folk DO need something more than that.

Black folk know Roland Burris. That's why we can separate him from Blago.

We don't know JACK about Dan Seals, and 2 years isn't long enough to build it.

Look at the visual.

Work with a Sista.

They would kick out Burris, who has a 30 year history with the Black community. Who won 4 STATEWIDE elections.

To bring in this half Black guy that nobody knows shyt about with absolutely NO connections to the Black community that hasn't won ANYTHING.

And, Chicago/Cook County, has all these politicos and Black business folk that could be chosen who actually HAVE TIES to the Black community.

Stand back and look and see how that looks to us.

What reason would I have to support Dan Seals - other than he is Black. I know a half dozen WHITE candidates that I could POINT TO things that they have done for the Black community - before I could support Seals. There are Black folks who could stand up and speak for these White candidates - because they've worked with them on projects. And, they understand Urban life.

Who Black is going to stand up for Seals and vouch for him on anything related to the Black community?

There's a difference between supporting someone because they're Black, and being asked to support them ONLY because they're Black.


And being told by the likes lf Harry Reid and Pat Quinn that THIS is the kind of Negro that is acceptable?

Hell-to-the-naw.

If I'm going to support a Black candidate that supposedly ' has no chance', then I'd just as soon see Jesse Jackson, Jr. in that spot.

I want someone to tell me, how Seals is a better candidate than Jackson Jr., who has a legislative record, who has an actual base, who actually has been building coalitions across communities from the moment he stepped into Congress, and he's actully WON elections.



PS- For those of you who say that folks like me can't see the forest, and that Reid was only trying to protect the Seat for 2010, the Democratic Primary IS the battle for 2010. And whomever wins that will be able to look good for victory in November 2010.

PPSS-When this all began, 'the talk' in the beauty and barbershops was, "Man, it looks like they're trying to knock out all the Black candidates." To wit, Black folk were called ' paranoid'. And the whole, ' well, we just need the most qualified person for the job.', bullshyt, which always, once that phrase is used, seems to EXCLUDE Black folks. Guess we weren't so ' paranoid' after all.

Roland Martin on Valerie Jarrett and the Senate Seat

From From Roland Martin @ Essence.com

December 12, 2008
The back story of Valerie Jarrett, Illinois U.S. Senate Seat and the White House

No one with President-elect Barack Obama's transition team has identified his close friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett as Senate candidate #1, as mentioned in the criminal complaint against Gov. Rod Blagojevich, but it's clear that she is the person often mentioned.

There is a wide assumption by many that Jarrett "mysteriously" dropped out of the race for the U.S. Senate, and I've even heard some suggest that the Obama team got wind of Blagojevich's alleged scheme to broker a deal for the seat appointment.

But there is nothing mysterious about what happened.


One week before the Nov. 4 election, Jarrett had multiple conversations with Sen. Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, with regards to the Senate position. This was in response to a number of Chicago allies asking her to consider taking an appointment for the remaining two years of the seat.

That doesn't come as a surprise to those familiar with the city's politics. A former top official with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley who is now CEO of a real estate company, she has served in many civic positions, and has had her name mentioned for various posts, including even running for mayor one day.

At the same time, multiple sources have told me that supporters of Jarrett were sending out feelers to black ministers and community activists to gauge the level of interest in her going after the job as a way to solidify support before it coalesced around another candidate or candidates.

Then after Obama's victory, the speculation immediately turned to whether she would go after the job. It was well known that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. wanted the post, and many were placing bets as to which way Obama would go, especially since the congressman was one of his national co-chairs. It was assumed that Obama would side with Jarrett, but he had not made a decision one way or another on who should take his place in the U.S. Senate.

One of the reasons Obama didn't declare her as his choice for the seat is because he was considering who would serve as his key advisers. Now that he was headed to the White House, his world is even smaller than it was when he was running for president, and he is further walled off from the rest of the world. He often said that Jarrett was one of his most trusted advisers, and having her at his side was important for a variety of reasons.

That's why on November 9, while she was in New York on business, he offered her the job as senior advisor to the president and assistant to the president for intergovernmental affairs and public liaison. This position has her reporting directly to him and places her in the inner sanctum of the president of the United States, and ensures that her voice will be heard on nearly every issue.

I know the date well because on November 10, she confided in me that she had been offered the job, but I couldn't report anything until the announcement was about to be made. I had been working the phones to ascertain what jobs were being offered to a litany of Obama campaign officials, and she was certainly high on the list because of her relationship with Obama.

On November 12, with speculation increasing that she was going after the job, she announced that she was not interested. And on November 14, I reported that she had been officially named to the post. And on November 16, Obama officially resigned his U.S. Senate seat, putting the choice for a replacement into overdrive.

No one still knows whether the Obama camp found out about Blagojevich's alleged wheeling and dealing for the seat. But the notion that Jarrett's decision to drop out of the running because of Pay Rod just doesn't jive with the facts.

Thanks to Roland for telling us this.