Burris sworn in as new senator

by Frank James

Ending a several-weeks long political battle that pitted Gov. Rod Blagojevich against Illinois and Senate Democrats to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, Sen. Roland Burris was officially sworn in Thursday as Illinois's junior senator.

With Sen. Dick Durbin leading him, Burris walked to the front of the Senate chamber where Vice President Dick Cheney administered the oath of office to the new senator who was so eager to say, "I do" he uttered the words even before Cheney finished reciting the short oath.

The chamber applauded after the oath and again after Burris signed the official Senate register. Then the senators on the floor lined up to greet him.

Following the ceremony, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), the Senate Majority Leader, gave a brief floor speech in which he said the issue was never Burris but the "uncertainty around his appointment." It was a euphemism for Burris's selection by Blagojevich who was arrested last month on the same day a federal criminal complaint was made public that contained allegations of corruption on Blagojevich's part, including the charge that he tried to auction off the Senate seat for his personal benefit.

"There are many paths to the United States Senate," Reid said. "It is fair to say that the path that brought our new colleague from Illinois to us was unique. Whatever complications surrounded his appointment, we made it clear from the beginning - both publicly and privately - that our concern was never with him."

Calling Burris a long-time friend, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) extolled the new senator as a racial pathfinder, the first African American in Illinois to hold state-wide office when he became the state's chief financial officer in the late 1970s. "I am honored today by his swearing into office to no longer be both the senior and junior senator from Illinois," Durbin said. "We have a junior senator. His name is Roland Burris and I look forward to serving with him."

Burris's swearing in represented a significant climbdown for Reid and Durbin, the second-highest ranking Democratic senator. They had vowed to never seat anyone chosen by Blagojevich. Any person appointed by the Illinois governor would be tainted, they said, echoing comments.

Reid and Durbin appeared to gain some traction when Illinois's Secretary of State Jesse White refused to affix his signature to the governor's document appointing Burris. That allowed Reid to cite a Senate rule under which no senator has been seated since the 1880s without the signatures of the governor and secretary of state on the necessary paperwork.

But pressure mounted on the Senate Democratic leaders from several quarters to back down. Legal experts said the governor was within his legal rights to name Obama's replacement. Then the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last week that the appointment was valid even if the White didn't sign the document.

More ground eroded under Durbin and Reid when California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Burris should be seated.

Meanwhile, the race card was played. Adding to the momentum against Reid and Durbin, was a campaign led by Rep. Bobby Rush who said Obama's seat should be filled by an African American. Left hanging in the air was the implied threat that if Burris was blocked from taking the seat, Senate Democrats might have to the ire of black constiuents come election time.

Negotiations between Burris and Senate Democrats cleared the way past the obstacles, with Burris testifying last week before a committee of Illinois lawmakers that he was not involved in any pay-to-play scheme to win the appointment. Meanwhile, White submitted new paperwork that met the Senate's rules.