'Gnawing' Burris trumps Summers?
Posted: Sunday, January 11, 2009 7:40 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under:
Congress
From NBC’s Ken Strickland
Attorneys for Roland Burris are expected to file new documents tomorrow with the U.S. Senate in a renewed effort to claim the seat vacated by Barack Obama. According to Dick Durbin, the state's senior senator, a decision of whether those papers satisfy Senate rules could come as early as Monday.
After a rare weekend session in the Capitol on Sunday, Durbin spent 30 minutes briefing his Democratic colleagues on the status of the controversy and showing them the papers Burris' lawyers plan to file.
"I wanted them to see the documents," Durbin said. "There's been so much talk about this."
The Burris matter got top billing in a meeting that was originally planned as a briefing from Larry Summers and Obama's economic team. Summers and company stood outside the Mansfield Room until Durbin finished his class on Illinois politics.
"This thing just keeps gnawing at us," Durbin said of controversy that's consumed his state. He said senators are "being asked about it at home, and I wanted to give them as much detail as they wanted."
The Senate's legal counsel will have to decide if the new papers conform to rules, which require an election certificate to signed by the state's governor and Secretary of State.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who had earlier refused to sign Blagojevich’s certificate, on Friday signed a separate document that certified the governor's appointment. This gives Burris both signatures, but not on the single form "recommended" by the Senate.
(Here's the analogy: Senate rules require a $10 bill for certification. Burris' lawyers will bring two $5 bills.)
If the counsel does decide that the certification is valid, it's still unclear when Burris would be seated. It could happen in a few days or could be much longer if it's sent to the Rules Committee.
