Burris: White regrets Senate hold up
Roland Burris — the senator-designate from Illinois — said upon landing at Midway Airport Wednesday that Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White told him that if he had to do it all over again, he just would have signed Burris’ Senate appointment.
But White’s spokesman said the secretary of state was not having second thoughts about declining to sign Gov. Blagojevich’s appointment of Burris to the Senate. Senate Democrats have cited White’s refusal to certify the appointment as one of the reasons they are refusing to seat Burris.
(Chris Sweda/Sun-Times)
“My good friend Secretary of State White says that, uh, he certainly would sign the document,” Burris said, adding that the only reason White told him he would not sign it now was because the case was in court. “The suit that we filed may have to cause him to hold it up.” Inadvertently transposing “then” and “now,” Burris added, “He said if he knew now what he knew then he wouldn’t have done what he did.”
White spokesman Dave Druker confirmed White and Burris had “a cordial conversation” Wednesday but denied White is having second thoughts about his decision.
“I don’t want to contradict Mr. Burris,” Druker said. “But I think Secretary of State White feels very strongly that he did the right thing. I think he feels badly that his friend Roland Burris was [the one Blagojevich appointed] but Burris was never the issue. It was always the governor. He feels very strongly that this governor should not be appointing anybody. If the [Illinois] Supreme Court tells him to sign it, he will do it in a moment.”
Burris plans to get a night’s sleep before appearing in Springfield Thursday before a House panel weighing whether to impeach Blagojevich, who was arrested in December on corruption charges, including allegations he tried to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
“I will be appearing tomorrow before the impeachment committee to discuss how the governor came to me,” Burris said. “I’m going to tell them exactly what transpired between the governor and I.”
Asked about a report that Obama called Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to encourage him to seat Burris, Burris said, “This is the first time I heard that. If my friend the president-elect of the United States said that, I want to thank him.”
Burris got a smattering of applause from about 20 onlookers lined up against a railing who watched him come up an escalator to a news conference at Midway following his unsuccessful attempt to take what he believes is his seat in the U.S. Senate. One well-wisher said, “Welcome back to Illinois.”
“It’s great to be back,” Burris said. “The only thing I regret is not being able to walk on that floor with my colleagues. That I look forward to in the very near future.”
If Burris is eventually seated as senator, and Blagojevich calls his Senate office, will Burris take the call?
Burris paused a moment then asked, “Gov. Blagojevich? Did you say, ‘Governor’ Blagojevich? He’s the governor, still the governor of the state, right? Yes,” Burris said, nodding.