Reid Doubles Down On Burris, But He’s Playing With Your Money

So Rod Blagojevich is impeached while jogging.

The Illinois Supreme Court says it’s not going to force Jesse White to sign Roland Burris’s certificate of appointment because they say it’s valid without the secretary of state’s signature.

And Dick Durbin says the Senate will still refuse to seat Burris.

Now I have to ask the question:

Do these geniuses have an end game?

I ask this because after Burris cleaned out Reid, it seems to be Durbin’s turn — and he’s playing on a short stack.

Durbin is claiming that the Senate will wait for Blago’s impeachment trial to conclude, cross their fingers and hope that Pat Quinn appoints someone else to fill the seat.

That’s an inspired idea.  In the mean time, nobody is going to talk about this.  The headlines will cease, Burris will sit modestly at home with a cup of chamomile tea, and when Quinn makes his appointment Burris will slip back into quiet obscurity.  The Senate will be unsullied by his taint and soon nobody will remember the entire thing ever happened.

…IN BIZARROWORLD.

What are they thinking?  

The court said, "no explanation has been given as to how any rule of the Senate, whether it be formal or merely a matter of  tradition, could supercede the authority to fill vacancies conferred on the states by the federal constitution." 

But according to Durbin, the Senate is evidently claiming that they do supercede the state’s authority to fill the seat.   Put aside the sheer breathtaking arrogance of the position — how do they think that’s going to play in the press?

Moreover, it looks like Durbin’s full of shit here.  He cites Senate rules drawn up in 1884 which require the signature of both the governor and the secretary of state.  But as Professor Erwin Chemerinsky states:

The problem here is that Burris unquestionably was lawfully selected. According to the 17th Amendment, "When vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the Senate, the executive authority of such state shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies." Illinois law gives this power to the state governor, and that is Blagojevich until he is impeached and found guilty.

In that regard, it is notable that the 1884 Senate rule Durbin and Reid rely on was promulgated before the passage of the 17th Amendment as well as before the Supreme Court decision in Powell v McCormack. Reid and Durbin are duplicitous in thinking their antiquated Senate rule trumps the official selection pursuant to the 17th Amendment and Illinois statutory law.

Durbin further states that "we have never, ever waived the rule for any election or appointment." Except that it did.  In 1910, when they seated Sen. William E. Purcell with "irregularities in certificate."

I’m no lawyer, but good luck with that one.

Just to make things more complex, Jesse White says that while he won’t sign the certificate itself, he’ll sign a certificate saying Burris’s appointment is "true and accurate" — which further weakens Durbin’s case.

What will a court make of all this?  Hell if I know, but a couple of things are worth noting:

1. Roland Burris ain’t the chamomile tea type.  He’s been out of the limelight for fourteen years and he’s lovin’ life.  If you want him off the stage, you better bring the hook.
2. Anybody see Burris get turned away at the Senate?  That was Bill Jeffress standing next to him.  Reid and Durbin may be auditioning for the original amateur hour, but Burris came to play.  I watched Jeffress defend Scooter Libby.  He’s absolutely crack and serious as a heart attack. 
3. At this point, it’s all about Reid and Durbin’s egos.  The caucus is complaining about how poorly the whole thing has been handled, people are grumbling to the press, and the Democratic leadership looks like a bunch of four-fingered goofs.

However, the sideshow is just getting started — because Roland Burris has shown he’s more than willing to campaign for the seat in the headlines, and he’ll win too.  Not because he’s right, but because the Democratic leadership are so spectacularly wrong — and because Burris has nothing to lose.  It’s all upside for him.

Read the Politico rundown of the entire fiasco.  It will scare the bejesus out of you to think these guys are in charge of anything more complex than scrambling eggs.  But I think this was my favorite part:

On Monday, Obama met with Reid to talk about the stimulus package. During that discussion, Obama reportedly told Reid that Burris should be seated. Obama’s people subsequently leaked the details of the conversation in order to distance their boss from efforts to deny Burris the seat, a move that infuriated some Senate Democratic staffers.

Obama is evidently the only one with any common sense here.  The entire issue is an open sore that will just continue to fester.   It threatens to become an enormous media spectacle that will completely overshadow the opening days of the Obama presidency and erode public confidence in the Democrats’ ability to govern.

In other words, we all lose.

I mean, really.  Let’s say Reid and Durbin don’t get smacked around in court and forced to seat Burris, and Quinn appoints someone else.

There will be two guys running around who think they are entitled to Barack Obama’s Senate seat.

Do they think nobody’s going to notice?

Related posts:

1. Burris Makes it Official: Will Not Run for “Re”-Election (And GOP Rep. Kirk Won’t Run Either!)
2. Burris: Health Care Reform Must Have a Public Option
3. Roland Burris Will Vote Against Any Bill That Doesn’t Have a Public Plan
4. Sunday Late Night: Your NN2010 Host, Harry Reid
5. Senate Liberal Dems Press Reid Not to Cave on Public Option