Burris does not meet requirements to be seated

Roland Burris, the newly appointed replacement for Sen.  Barack Obama’s Senate seat failed to meet the requirements to permit to be seated today.

 ”Somehow, Citizen Burris made his way to the office of Nancy Erickson, the secretary of the Senate, to whom he presented his credentials, only to have her reject them.”…

“Ms. Erickson had already said that the appointment letter forwarded by the governor’s office did not comply with Rule II of the Senate’s standing rules, which requires signatures of both the governor and the secretary of state.”

So who is the Illinois Secretary of State who did not sign?

The Illinois secretary of state, Jesse White, has refused to sign, saying the appointment is invalid because of a federal corruption investigation surrounding the governor and what prosecutors describe as his efforts to sell the Senate seat, vacated by Mr. Obama.

Now that is really stupid. The law has been followed and Mr. Burris was not involved with the Gov. Blagojevich scandal. Why is Jesse White blocking this?

This is a good reason why you should vote independently every time. In the corridors of power,  the Democrat Party does not want Roland Burris to be seated. Why? Because he has never won an election and the Democrat Party wants Gov. Blagojevich to choose a person that can win this seat in the next election in 2010.

This is the political party system trying to usurp the power of the State of Illinois to send a duly appointed person to take a vacant  seat precisely as the law permits.

First, Jesse White refuses to authorize the appointment and then the Senate turns Mr. Burris down because he is not properly credentialed. The fault lies with Jesse White and not Harry Reid.  Sen. Reid  is hiding his hand and the hand of the Democrat Party with this maneuver.

How do we know that Harry Reid is behind this?

Mr. Reid has suggested that he is open to negotiations, and Democrats have drawn back somewhat from their position that Mr. Burris will not be seated under any circumstances. Democrats said Monday that they were uncertain of the outcome, though they said it remained likely that the appointment would be referred to the Senate Rules Committee for an investigation of its legitimacy.

Harry has nothing to negotiate. Guess who runs the Senate Rules Committee who will determine if the qualifications ( not credentials) are met ? Sen. Diane Feinstein. And what does she think?

Sen. Feinstein reports her support for Roland Burris.A shrewd political move. Her committee would rule on the qualifications of Burris but not the credentials. She can poke a sharp stick in Harry Reid’s eye, send a message to Obama that she is a force to be reckoned with, and engage support of the black community with a simple statement that she supports Roland Burris.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee that soon could take up Burris’ case, said Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has the right to appoint a senator despite the allegations of corruption against him. 

“Does the governor have the power, under law, to make the appointment? And the answer is yes,” Feinstein said, urging the Senate to settle the matter. “If you don’t seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America. … Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician.” 

I have noticed in the US recently that woman politicians are making more correct decisions than their male colleagues. Harry Reid is wrong. Feinstein is right and damn the torpedoes, er, Harry Reid.

My hat is off to Sen. Feinstein for taking a principled stand rather than the bargaining  appraoch that Harry Reid took.

Yet all of this is for naught if Jesse White does not stamp and sign Gov. Blagojevich’s appointment letter.  Without credentials, Mr. Burris’ qualifications will never come to be the question.

The refusal to seat members in Congress has occurred before. Mostly in the House . The Volokh Conspiracyhas some comments that are very good to read. It’s an attorney blog that doesn’t get too technical.

To read what happened when Wisconsin elected a socialist to the House of Representatives and he was denied seating GO HERE. 

In conclusion, Harry Reid does not have the authority to prevent the seating of Roland Burris. However, the Sec’y of State in Illinois does. For Mr. Burris to get his foot in the door of Congress, he must go to court and get the Illinois Supreme Court to force the Sec’y of State Jesse White to affix his seal to the appointment letter.

Once that is done, Roland Burris’ qualifications can be challenged by Congress in the Senate Rules Committee headed by Sen. Feinstein. And she has already told us her opinion.

Everything else you read  is just theater until the Sec’y of State makes his mark on the appointment letter.

The Democrat Party looks like jerks on this one.