Madigan catches fire over latest Burris scandal
SPRINGFIELD | Some say he should give House a chance to reprimand Burris
SPRINGFIELD -- Roland Burris' secretly recorded offer to donate to ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich before being appointed to the U.S. Senate now has House Speaker Michael Madigan on the hot seat.
While Madigan is not accused of wrongdoing, members of both political parties want to know why the powerful speaker won't give the House a chance to publicly reprimand Burris or call for his ouster.
(AP)
That chorus grew louder after the release of an FBI recording in which Burris tells the ex-governor's brother, Robert Blagojevich, he'd be willing to donate to the Blagojevich fund while touting himself for the Senate seat.
That is yet another detail that Burris did not divulge to an Illinois House impeachment panel during testimony in January.
Burris is facing a U.S. Senate ethics probe and a perjury investigation by a Sangamon County prosecutor for his continually evolving timeline of events and conflicting statements about his appointment.
Three resolutions targeting Burris have had a brick on them in the state House Rules Committee, which Madigan tightly controls.
One, sponsored by Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), seeks to reprimand Burris for "obvious contradictions" in his testimony and urges the Senate to expel him.
"I think it's a mistake by leadership" not to allow a House vote on that resolution, Franks said. "I understand why they're doing it. But I think because of the extraordinary circumstances with the release of the tapes, we should release this."
The party's leadership does not "want to bring more shame to the Democratic Party," he said. "They want to leave it alone as much as possible. I think just the opposite: If you have a problem, you should shine a bright light."
Two other GOP-sponsored resolutions stuck in the Rules Committee would encourage Burris to resign and asks the Senate ethics panel "to take appropriate action" against Burris and provides for a special election if he is expelled.
Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said the speaker has no intention of letting those resolutions advance to the House floor because Madigan already turned the matter over to a Downstate prosecutor to investigate.
"We dealt with all that in referring the matter over to the Sangamon County state's attorney," Brown said.
But Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), the ranking Republican on the impeachment panel, said the resolutions should get full House hearings on what he regards as Burris' deceptive testimony.
"If we're going to ignore it and just dismiss this as kind of a lie, it reflects poorly on this institution, and it's shameful," Durkin said.