Democrats take stand against Blagojevich's pick

December 30, 2:49 PMCongress ExaminerIgor Derysh

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Photo courtesy of the AP

United States Senators and Illinois officials appear to be taking a stand against Blago's appointment of Roland Burris, despite having nothing against Burris himself. This leaves several questions: Does anyone have any real authority to stop Blago?

Statement released by the Senate Democrats:

It is truly regrettable that despite requests from all 50 Democratic Senators and public officials throughout Illinois, Gov. Blagojevich would take the imprudent step of appointing someone to the United States Senate who would serve under a shadow and be plagued by questions of impropriety. We say this without prejudice toward Roland Burris's ability, and we respect his years of public service. But this is not about Mr. Burris; it is about the integrity of a governor accused of attempting to sell this United States Senate seat. Under these circumstances, anyone appointed by Gov. Blagojevich cannot be an effective representative of the people of Illinois and, as we have said, will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus.

Secondly, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White has stated that his office will not give Blago's appointment the certification that it needs. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.Com says "I'm not sure what, if any, constitutional authority White has to do that."

More to come after Blago's press conference at 2 p.m. Central Time

Correction: I have been spelling the Burris' first name as "Ronald." It is actually Roland.