Just when you thought the Rod Blagojevich scandal couldn’t get any more bizarre, news broke within the last hour that the troubled Illinois governor will reportedly appoint former state attorney general Roland W. Burris to fill Barack Obama’s senate seat this afternoon. While Blago is fully within his rights to make this appointment, the fact that the governor was recently arrested for allegedly trying to sell this same senate seat, and is also in the midst of impeachment proceedings against him, makes this a politically shocking move.
But wait, there’s more! Two political crises for the price of one! MSNBC reports that word from sources close to Harry Reid indicates that Senate Democrats will attempt to stick to their pledge that no Blago appointment would be acceptable to fill the vacant seat. Constitutionally, they may be limited in their options to oppose move, but could go as far as taking a rare vote to actually prevent Burris from taking his seat in the Senate.
I can’t wait to see how this mess plays out. Keep checking back with Empire for updates, and also for my upcoming piece on potential bright spots in 2009 politics, which I should get around to posting shortly after New Year’s.
This entry was posted on 30 December 2008 at 14:20:30 PM and is filed under Commentary, National . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed
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BREAKING NEWS: Blago to Appoint Replacement; Reid: Burris “Not Acceptable”
Just when you thought the Rod Blagojevich scandal couldn’t get any more bizarre, news broke within the last hour that the troubled Illinois governor will reportedly appoint former state attorney general Roland W. Burris to fill Barack Obama’s senate seat this afternoon. While Blago is fully within his rights to make this appointment, the fact that the governor was recently arrested for allegedly trying to sell this same senate seat, and is also in the midst of impeachment proceedings against him, makes this a politically shocking move.
But wait, there’s more! Two political crises for the price of one! MSNBC reports that word from sources close to Harry Reid indicates that Senate Democrats will attempt to stick to their pledge that no Blago appointment would be acceptable to fill the vacant seat. Constitutionally, they may be limited in their options to oppose move, but could go as far as taking a rare vote to actually prevent Burris from taking his seat in the Senate.
I can’t wait to see how this mess plays out. Keep checking back with Empire for updates, and also for my upcoming piece on potential bright spots in 2009 politics, which I should get around to posting shortly after New Year’s.
This entry was posted on 30 December 2008 at 14:20:30 PM and is filed under Commentary, National . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.