Reasonable people can argue over whether or not the death penalty is a good idea. But to inflict it on someone who you have every reason to believe is innocent? That’s what Roland Burris apparently once tried to do when he was Illinois’ state attorney general.
Public fury over the governor’s alleged misconduct has masked the once lively debate over Burris’ decision to continue to prosecute, despite the objections of one of his top prosecutors, the wrong man for a high-profile murder case.
While state attorney general in 1992, Burris aggressively sought the death penalty for Rolando Cruz, who twice was convicted of raping and murdering a 10-year-old girl in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The crime took place in 1983.
But by 1992, another man had confessed to the crime, and Burris’ own deputy attorney general was pleading with Burris to drop the case, then on appeal before the Illinois Supreme Court.
Burris refused. He was running for governor.
"Anybody who understood this case wouldn’t have voted for Burris," Rob Warden, executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, told ProPublica. Indeed, Burris lost that race, and two other attempts to become governor.
Burris’ role in the Cruz case was "indefensible and in defiance of common sense and common decency," Warden said. "There was obvious evidence that [Cruz] was innocent."
Deputy attorney general Mary Brigid Kenney agreed and eventually resigned rather than continue to prosecute Cruz.
The implication here is clear: Burris wanted the guy dead, innocent or not, simply because he thought it would help him win the governorship of Illinois. (Perhaps he felt that judicially-murdering a Hispanic might give him Honorary White Man status with the downstate and white-flight voters. Who knows?)
Cases like this, where innocent persons stood in dire danger of being judicially murdered, are among the reasons why former Illinois governor George Ryan — a famously-corrupt Republican now doing time for said corruption — backed the one truly decent cause in his life, and ended the use of the death penalty in Illinois.
Oh. My. God. That’s all I can say about this.
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But I thought “there is no evidence whatsoever” that Burris isn’t qualified to be a Senator, so we should all just shut up and let Blago appoint him to the US Senate? You know, Blago can do that legally so that’s the end of that. Run along, nothing to see here.
Oh, and did I mention that Burris is melanin-enhanced?
Seriously, I’m glad the Dems are doing everything they can politically and LEGALLY, since we are a Nation of laws, to stop these thugs from from flipping the bird to Illinois, America, and the world for that matter, since what they’re doing is effecting Obama’s and Congress’s ability to get shit done.
Burris’s political actions in the past have no place in the discussion over whether to seat him.
There are a lot of implications and presumptions in this article about what Burris thought or why Burris acted. I think it crosses the line, frankly, in terms of imputing motives to Burris.
But, again: we aren’t talking about Burris’s political qualifications for the office he’s been legally appointed to. And we shouldn’t. His only actual qualification is that he’s been legally appointed by the legal governor of Illinois, who has the duty to fill a vacancy.
Everything else is theatre.
Just curious, but if Blago appointed, say, his wife or maybe Dennis Hastert (who is very “qualified”), would you be equally as willing to turn a blind eye to Blago’s duty? I suspect not. Either way, I do think the past actions of Burris are very important in what to do about this extorsion Blago is attempting on the Illinois and American people.
All Senate Dems said they would not welcome ANY Blago appointment and will do whatever they can to stop it. Blago goes ahead anyway, and Burris accepted even though he knew all this would happen. Given this, there is no way Burris will be an effective Senator for Illinois, and it raises serious doubts about his motivations. Illinois would be better served without a Senator for a few weeks if it even came to that, than to have this circus and a potentially corrupt Senator.
Also, if Gov. Paterson picks Caroline Kennedy, can we expect the “Seat Burris Now” contingent to follow their same reasoning then? If so, I look forward to the end of the incessant Kennedy bashing.