Burris' son got state job fairly, Quinn says
Housing counsel himself faces foreclosure
SPRINGFIELD -- Sen. Roland Burris' son landed his state job "in an appropriate manner" and can keep it despite facing a substantial federal tax lien and home foreclosure, Gov. Quinn's office announced Monday.
In response to a Chicago Sun-Times report last month, Quinn promised a review of the September 2008 hiring of Roland Burris II as the $75,000-a-year senior counsel for the state's housing authority.
Burris II got his job with the Illinois Housing Development Authority six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped him with a $34,163 tax lien and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side home.
The agency for which Burris works oversees mortgage programs for low-income homebuyers and spearheads anti-foreclosure initiatives.
"Upon completion of a thorough review into the hiring of Roland W. Burris II by the Illinois Housing Development Authority, the governor's office of general counsel has found no indication of improper conduct," according to a statement issued by Quinn's press office.
The hiring raised questions about Sen. Burris' interactions with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich at a time when Blagojevich was soliciting Sen. Burris for campaign contributions and Burris was angling for his U.S. Senate appointment.
Quinn's decision to allow Burris II to remain on the job drew an admonition from a key House Republican, who suggested a condition of Burris II's future employment should be enrolling in one of his agency's anti-foreclosure initiatives.
"It sounds to me Mr. Burris perhaps should be somewhere else in IHDA and probably should be participating in some of its counseling classes himself," said Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs).