Roland Burris | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2009 | |
| United States Senator fromIllinois | |
| In office January 12, 2009 – November 29, 2010 | |
| Appointed by | Rod Blagojevich |
| Preceded by | Barack Obama |
| Succeeded by | Mark Kirk |
| 39thAttorney General of Illinois | |
| In office January 14, 1991 – January 9, 1995 | |
| Governor | Jim Edgar |
| Preceded by | Neil Hartigan |
| Succeeded by | Jim Ryan |
| 3rdComptroller of Illinois | |
| In office January 8, 1979 – January 14, 1991 | |
| Governor | Jim Thompson |
| Preceded by | Michael Bakalis |
| Succeeded by | Dawn Clark Netsch |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Roland Wallace Burris (1937-08-03)August 3, 1937 (age 88) Centralia, Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Berlean Miller |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (BA) Howard University (JD) |
Burris supporting theDistrict of Columbia Voting Rights Act. Recorded February 25, 2009 | |
Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937)[1] is an American politician and attorney who served asAttorney General of Illinois from 1991 to 1995 and as aUnited States senator fromIllinois from 2009 until 2010. A member of theDemocratic Party, Burris was the firstAfrican-American elected to statewide office in Illinois.
Burris was first elected to public office in1978, becoming theComptroller of Illinois, and was reelected in1982 and1986. He was elected Illinois Attorney General in1990, becoming the second African-Americanstate attorney general in U.S. history. Burris unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination forGovernor of Illinois in1994.
Burris ran four other unsuccessful campaigns for public office.[2] These include campaigns for governor in1998 and2002, in both of which he lost in the Democratic primary. Burris also ran as an independent candidate in the1995 Chicago mayoral election, losing to incumbentRichard M. Daley by a significant margin.
In January 2009, GovernorRod Blagojevich appointed Burris to the U.S. Senate seat vacated byBarack Obama, who resigned to becomepresident of the United States.[3] The appointment was controversial due toan ongoing corruption investigation into Blagojevich and rumors that he was paid for the appointment.[4] Burris was never convicted of any wrongdoing.
Burris was born and raised in the small community ofCentralia in southern Illinois.[1] The Burris family traces its roots to slaves in theAmerican South, mainly Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.[5] Burris is a 1955 graduate of Centralia High School.[6] He attendedSouthern Illinois University Carbondale, receiving aBachelor of Arts degree inpolitical science in 1959.[1] He was an exchange student on scholarship to studyInternational Law at theUniversity of Hamburg in Germany. He earned hisJuris Doctor degree from theHoward University School of Law in 1963.[1]
Burris is married to Berlean M. Burris. They have two children and one grandchild.[1][7]
Burris has built a mausoleum for himself inOak Woods Cemetery on Chicago'sSouth Side. His tombstone reads "TRAIL BLAZER" and includes a list of his accomplishments, with space left for future ones.[8][9][10]
After graduating from law school, Burris became National Bank Examiner for theOffice of the Comptroller of the Currency for theU.S. Treasury Department.[11]In that capacity, he traveled throughout theMidwest, examining banks inIllinois,Indiana,Michigan andWisconsin.[citation needed] The adversities he faced as an African-American bank examiner in the early 1960s were described in some detail in the February 2013 edition ofSuperVisions (the OCC's employee newsletter). From 1964 to 1973, Burris worked atContinental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company (nowBank of America), serving as tax accountant, tax consultant, commercial banking officer, and vice president. He headed a commercial group that covered government guaranteed loans and minority business banking.[12]
In 1973, Illinois GovernorDan Walker appointed Burris Director of theDepartment of Central Management Services. He served until 1977.[13]
Burris was National Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer forOperation PUSH from January to October 1977.[13]He was in private law practice from October 1977 to January 1979, and again from June 1995 to present.[citation needed]
In 1985, Burris was selected for the position of vice-chairman of theDemocratic National Committee. This decision, coming on the heels of the party'slandslide loss to PresidentRonald Reagan, generated controversy, since Gary, Indiana MayorRichard Hatcher, who had served as presidential candidateJesse Jackson's campaign manager, was the nominee of the party's Black Caucus. Jackson refused to recognize Burris's selection, claiming that it was part of an effort by the Democratic Party leadership to pander to thewhite American electorate.[14]
Burris sought the Democratic nomination forIllinois Comptroller in1976, but was defeated byMichael Bakalis.[15] In1978 Bakalis did not seek reelection as comptroller, choosing to run for governor, and Burris won the comptrollership. He was reelected as comptroller in1982 and1986. He was the firstAfrican American elected to statewide office in Illinois.[16] While serving as comptroller, Burris was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in1984, losing toPaul Simon,[17] who defeated the incumbent, RepublicanCharles Percy.[18]
Burris was electedIllinois Attorney General in1990. He was the second African American ever elected to astate office of attorney general in the U.S., afterEdward Brooke.[19] He served from 1991 to 1995, supervising over 500 lawyers. In 1985, 19-year-oldRolando Cruz was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death along with a co-defendant in aDuPage County Circuit Court for thekidnapping, rape, and murder of a 10-year-old child. In 1992, Assistant Attorney General Mary Brigid Kenney, whom Burris had assigned to fight Cruz's appeal, sent Burris a memo identifying numerous errors in the investigation and trial in Cruz's initial conviction, and refusing to participate in upholding what she considered awrongful conviction. Burris ignored Kenney's warnings, and she resigned in protest, writing to Burris, "I was being asked to help execute an innocent man... Unfortunately, you have seen fit to ignore the evidence in this case."[20] In September 1995,DNA tests showed that neither Cruz nor his co-defendant contributed the semen found at the crime scene,exonerating them.[21] In 2002, GovernorGeorge Ryan fullypardoned Cruz[22] and declared a moratorium on thedeath penalty in Illinois, calling the system "fraught with error".[23]
In 1993, Burris, an advocate for a nationalhandgun ban, helped organize Chicago's first Gun Turn-in Day.[24] The next year, he admitted that he kept a handgun in his home and had not turned it into police as he had urged others to do. A spokesman said that Burris had "forgotten about" his gun.[25]
In 1994, Burris was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination forgovernor of Illinois. He had been favored for much of the primary campaign, but he andCook County Board PresidentRichard Phelan both lost to ComptrollerDawn Clark Netsch, who had a strong late showing in the final weeks of the campaign. In the general election, Netsch lost to incumbent Republican GovernorJim Edgar. That year, Democrats lost every single race for statewide office.[26][27]
In 1995, Burris ran as an independent formayor of Chicago, losing to incumbentRichard M. Daley.[28] In 1998, he again unsuccessfully sought theDemocratic nomination for governor. In that race, Burris caused controversy by calling his primary opponents—Jim Burns,Glenn Poshard (who eventually won the nomination) andJohn Schmidt—"non-qualified white boys".[29] During his 2002 run for governor against, among others,Rod Blagojevich, he was supported by, among others,Barack Obama.[30]
When Burris was state comptroller in the 1980s, his office issued a license to the Illinois Funeral Directors Association (IFDA) to manage a pre-need funeral trust fund.[31][32] A provision was also issued allowing trustees to take 25% of the fund's earnings as management fees.[32]
The fund went into deficits beginning in 2001, leading to the revocation of the IFDA license in September 2007 and a $59 million deficit by October 2008.[31] Burris acted as a lobbyist for the IFDA trust from early 2007 through 2008.[33] He has refused to comment on the scandal, saying, "it was 30 years ago".[34] Consequently, a group of funeral directors (plaintiffs in a suit filed in 2009 against the IFDA alleging aPonzi scheme[35]) have subpoenaed Burris to find out the nature of his involvement during his time as lobbyist.[36]The lawsuit is currently ongoing.[citation needed][needs update]
Burris is manager/CEO of Burris & Lebed Consulting, LLC, which was formed in 2002.[37]
Burris was featured briefly in a scene from the Hollywood blockbusterThe Fugitive. A scene in the movie, which was mainly shot in Chicago, shows Burris in the St. Patrick's Day parade, waving to spectators.[38]
On December 14, 2008, Burris suggested himself as a possible caretaker for theUnited States Senate seat vacated by President-electBarack Obama, saying he would not run for election if appointed.[39] Before this suggestion, Governor Blagojevich had been considering appointingOprah Winfrey, but feared she would not take his call.[40] This suggestion came in the wake of anFBI investigation regarding charges of corruption against Blagojevich for seeking bribes in apay-to-play scheme for the empty Senate seat and other offenses. Blagojevich said he appointed Burris because he believed Burris's ego made him the only person who would fight to be seated.[41]
Burris filed an affidavit on January 5, in advance of his testimony before the Illinois impeachment committee, in which he wrote, "prior to the December 26, 2008, telephone call from Mr. Adams Jr., there was not any contact between myself or any of my representatives with Governor Blagojevich or any of his representatives regarding my appointment to the United States Senate." But according to the FBI wiretap transcript recorded November 13, Burris told the governor's brother Rob Blagojevich, who chaired the governor's reelection campaign, that he understood that Blagojevich wanted money, that he was "trying to figure out how to deal with this and still be in the consideration for the appointment", and that he was willing to "personally do something", including write the governor a personal check. He said he realized, however, that such an action might look like he was trying to buy the seat and wanted to find a way to avoid that perception.[42]
On December 30, 2008, Blagojevich announced that he was naming Burris to the seat.Illinois Secretary of StateJesse White registered the appointment in the official records of Illinois on December 31, 2008, but declined to sign the Senate's certification form.[43]
On January 5, 2009,Secretary of the United States SenateNancy Erickson rejected Burris's certificate of appointment to the Senate as invalid. Erickson citedSenate Rule 2 as the reason for the rejection.[44] Because White had refused to sign the certificate, Erickson concluded that the certificate did not conform to Senate Rule 2.[44]Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid and Illinois's senior SenatorDick Durbin agreed with Erickson that the Senate rule required the secretary of state's signature.[45]
Reid initially said that the Senate would not seat Burris,[46] citingArticle I, Section 5 of the United States Constitution, which reads, "Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members." Before Burris was in contention, Reid and other senators had said they would use Article I authority against any appointment by Blagojevich.[47] The Senate could also have referred the appointment to theSenate Rules Committee, thus stalling it until Blagojevich's status was settled.[48] Some Democrats, including Senate Rules Committee chairDianne Feinstein and theCongressional Black Caucus, spoke in favor of seating Burris.[49][50]
Burris appeared in Washington at the January 6 Congressional swearing-in ceremony to claim his seat, but was denied entry into the Senate chamber.[45] He and his lawyers insisted that he was "now the junior senator from the state of Illinois",[51] though technically he was not a senator and could not be one until being administered the oath of office.[52]
On January 9, 2009, theIllinois Supreme Court ruled that the appointment required only the governor's signature, not the secretary of state's. It also said Illinois is not obligated to use, and hence its secretary of state is not required to sign, the Senate's "recommended" certification form.[43][53] The State Supreme Court noted that a different form was available: White had already registered the appointment in Illinois's official records, and Illinois law requires the secretary of state to provide a certified copy, with signature and seal, of any of the state's official records to anyone willing to pay the fee. It suggested that Burris simply obtain a certified copy of the appointment registration.[43] InBurris v. White, the State Supreme Court not only declared that the form of certificate contained in rule II of the Standing Rules of the U.S. Senate was, according to its own terms, only arecommended form, but further remarked that "no explanation has been given as to how any rule of the Senate, whether it be formal or merely a matter of tradition, could supersede the authority to fill vacancies conferred on the states by the federal constitution".[43] After the ruling, White gave Burris a certified copy of the appointment's registration, and Burris delivered that copy, bearing the State Seal, to theSecretary of the Senate.[54] On January 12, 2009, after the Secretary of the Senate announced that she and theSenate Parliamentarian deemed Burris's credentials valid, Senate leaders seated Burris.[55] Burris was sworn in by Vice PresidentDick Cheney on January 15, 2009.[56][57][58]
Burris filed an affidavit with the Illinois House committee that oversaw Governor Blagojevich's impeachment, dated February 4, to supplement his earlier answer to a question posed by the committee.[59][60] Burris acknowledged that Blagojevich had requested "assistance in fund-raising" three times in the weeks and months before Blagojevich appointed him. Illinois House Republicans considered this at odds with Burris's testimony during the impeachment trial and said they were considering a perjury investigation.[61] Democratic officials, includingIllinois Attorney GeneralLisa Madigan, supported an investigation.[62] Burris said he told the governor's brother Rob Blagojevich that he could not donate to Governor Blagojevich because "it could be viewed as an attempt to curry favor with him regarding his decision to appoint a successor to President Obama" and that he "did not raise or donate any funds to Governor Blagojevich after the fundraiser on June 27, 2008."[60]
On February 16, Burris told reporters that the governor's brother had asked him to raise $10,000 to $15,000 for the governor in October 2008.[63] Burris said that after the phone call, he "talked to some people about trying to see if we could put a fundraiser on" but that no one was willing to donate to the governor.[63][64] Burris says he spoke with the governor's brother again around November 10 to tell him that his efforts to raise money were unsuccessful, but that he might be able to talk other people into donating about $1,000 to the governor.[63][64] Burris also said that around November 15 or 16, he told the governor's brother that he could not raise any money for the governor, nor would he donate to the governor himself.[63][64]
On February 17,Sangamon County State's Attorney's Office released a statement saying it was investigating Burris for perjury connected to his testimony to the panel of the Illinois House of Representatives investigating the governor's impeachment.[65] TheSenate Ethics Committee was also reportedly preparing a preliminary investigation into the matter.[66]
On February 18, theChicago Tribune called on Burris to resign.[67] In the editorial, the board wrote, "His protests that he had nothing to hide just don't square with his obvious attempts to hide something."[67][68] The editorial board ofTheWashington Post also called for Burris's resignation, saying his story had "more twists than the Chicago 'L'" because Burris had offered five varying explanations, three of them under oath, of his contact with associates of Blagojevich.[68][69] Burris refused to resign despite calls to do so from new Illinois GovernorPat Quinn and statements from fellow Illinois SenatorDick Durbin that Durbin would not support Burris for election.[70][71]
On March 7, theChicago Sun-Times reported thatSangamon CountyState's Attorney John Schmidt has asked the FBI for recordings of wiretapped phone calls between Burris and Blagojevich for a perjury investigation.[72] On May 26, 2009, the recordings were released. In them, Burris promised to "personally do something" for Blagojevich's campaign. During the conversation, Burris and Blagojevich discussed the possibility that Burris might raise campaign money on a larger scale, and Burris said, "I know I could give him a check myself."[73]
A few days later, the Associated Press reported: "When asked in a recent interview with The Associated Press how the scandal back home has affected him, Burris made a sweeping gesture with his hands and literally brushed the matter aside."[74]
On May 28, 2009, Democratic Illinois RepresentativeJack Franks and Republican RepresentativeJim Durkin, the ranking Republican on the impeachment panel that had questioned Burris during his January 8 testimony, accused Burris of perjury and called for him to be removed from office.[42] In 2009, Burris was named one of the 15 Most Corrupt Members of Congress by the watchdog groupCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.[75]
On June 19, 2009, Sangamon County State's Attorney John Schmidt announced that Burris would not face criminal perjury charges, saying that Burris's promise to "personally do something" for Blagojevich was too vague to rise to the level of criminality.[76] Burris praised the announcement, saying, "The truth has prevailed"; meanwhile, Durkin criticized Schmidt's decision, saying, "They're all contradictions to his previously sworn statements. To me, it's a pretty strong case."[77]
On November 20, 2009, TheSenate Ethics Committee wrote Burris a letter saying that although no ethics charges would be pursued, "The Committee found that you should have known that you were providing incorrect, inconsistent, misleading, or incomplete information to the public, the Senate and those conducting legitimate inquiries into your appointment to the Senate."[78]
Burris was the only black U.S. senator during his term in office.[79] After he left office, it was over two years until the next black senator,Tim Scott, a Republican and the first black senator elected in the south since Reconstruction, took office in 2013.[79]
According toFederal Election Commission records, on January 2, 2009, before the controversy over his conflicting explanations of his fundraising activity on Blagojevich's behalf, Burris signed a statement of candidacy for the2010 election. Durbin said, "it would be extremely difficult for him to be successful",[64] and on April 16, theChicago Tribune reported that Burris had raised only $845 for his campaign.[83] On July 9, theChicago Sun-Times reported that Burris would not run for election in 2010, and Burris made an official announcement in Chicago on July 10 that he would retire when his term ended.[84]
Burris's term ended on November 29, 2010, with the swearing-in of his elected successor,Mark Kirk, who had won the special election to complete the term in addition to a full six-year term. Burris cited the high cost of running a campaign as a major reason for not seeking election, saying he would rather continue to serve the people of Illinois than raise money for a campaign.[85]
He wanted to end his career with a statewide office", said friend, traveling companion and WVON radio host Cliff Kelley, who recalled Burris becoming upset when others were mentioned as potential Obama successors and he was not. "He really wanted this. He never thought he'd get it, but he was hoping for it.
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forComptroller of Illinois 1978,1982,1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forAttorney General of Illinois 1990 | Succeeded by Al Hofeld |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Comptroller of Illinois 1979–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by | Attorney General of Illinois 1991–1995 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | United States Senator (Class 3) from Illinois 2009–2010 Served alongside:Dick Durbin | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Senator | Order of precedence of the United States | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Senator |
| Class 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
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| Auditors of public accounts (1818–1973) |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Comptrollers (1973–present) | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
