February 17, 2009
Senator Burris said he wasn't going to comment anymore, but he did just that - and he shouldn't have. He admitted that he did talk to blago people
Here's a transcript from the Q & A after the THE ANNUAL PEORIA COUNTY DEMOCRATS’ PRESIDENTS’ DAY DINNER in Peoria as provided by Tribunes' RAY LONG:
BURRIS: The testimony was over. We thought, you know, we’d done a decent job… We then got word on that Sunday night from Sen. Durbin or from somewhere that they were going to check over the information that we had submitted, that came from the Secretary of State.
“I mean, can you all imagine what’s going on now, when the secretary of state wouldn’t sign the petition? And we had to try to deal with all that..."
Q: We watched it on national TV?
“Yeah, right. It was a lot of, a lot of confusion going on. And so we finally--and by the way, we had to deal with the Supreme Court. We’re trying to draft petitions. We’re also trying to draft petitions for the federal court. And (had) to hire all these lawyers. And they were looking at all the law and doing all this research. This is all going on and so we can be prepared to go to court in case they didn’t seat us.
“So now the timeline after that was that we did get the word on that Monday that they had OK’d my appointment, that I would come on down, I would be seated. But then they tried to get in touch with Vice President Cheney and to find out when they could swear me in, and so they decided on Wednesday, but then they changed it and said he couldn’t be available until Thursday. … This is now Thursday Jan. 15. So we went out on Jan. 15, and we stayed in Washington because I was sworn in. And guess what? I had to vote that evening. At 4:30 or 5 o’clock, I had to cast my first vote in the Senate. So now we’re in Washington Jan. 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20th was (President Barack Obama's) inauguration. The 21st, I understand from my lawyer who had to leave and go to California, when he got back to the law office, that on the 22nd, the transcript of the trial (meaning impeachment hearing) arrived.
“He reviewed that on the 23rd, I think, and talked to me and said, ‘I thought you said that you had talked to the governor’s brother about fund-raising.' I said, 'Well I did.' He said, 'Well, his name was in the transcript by the, um, by by by (Republican state Rep. Jim) Durkin--we were (under) question, and we didn’t respond to that.
“I said, 'We (did or didn’t, unintelligible) respond to it?' He said, 'no.’ I said, ‘Look, we got to respond to that because that is, you know, because I did talk with him.'"
“He said, 'Well, we can prepare an affidavit, Roland.’ I said, ‘Well, let’s prepare whatever we need to prepare.’ And not only did I respond to him, but then he read off the other names. ‘Well, did you have anything to do with John Wyma?’
"I said, 'Yes.' I talked to John Wyma and Doug Scofield at the June fund-raiser, expressing to them that I was interested in being appointed to the Senate seat.
As a matter of fact, I’ll tell everybody I knew that I was interested in getting appointed to the Senate seat. I mean, you know, because I wanted to be a United States senator and I thought I was qualified to be that.
“So we then voluntarily filed that affidavit that then said in part that we had talked to Scofield and Wyma, we had talked to John Harris on another matter, but it was only a question when he was talking about the reference on my nephew that I called him about, seeking to assist him as a reference. And at the end of that conversation with John Harris, who was then the governor’s chief of staff, I said, ‘Is there any progress or any word on the Senate seat?’ You know what his answer was? One word, ‘No.’ And he cut it off.
“So that was my conversation with the governor’s chief of staff. You know, that sent me up a wall. Because I’m now (wondering), If the chief of staff said no, where am I?
“So I then also indicated, and, of course, I talked with, that happened sometime in—I don’t even remember when that was when I talked to John Harris. But I know when it was when I talked to the governor’s brother. The governor’s brother’s on a routine fund-raising call indicated, ‘I am now the new fund-raiser for the governor, and Roland you’ve been helpful for us in the past,’ and I said, ‘Yes, you know, I’ve certainly tried to work with the governor. I’ve tried to help you all. A lot of people didn’t.'"
“And he says, ‘We need to raise some funds. We hope that you could probably get some of your friends together.' I said, ‘What type of money we looking for?’ He says, ‘Can you raise us 10 or 15 thousand dollars?’
“I said, ‘I don’t know but I can’t do it now because we are in the midst of an election. Call me after the election.’ He said, ‘Fine.’"
“So some time shortly after Obama was elected, the brother called. And now in the meantime, I’d talked to some people about trying to see if we could put a fund-raiser on. Nobody was—they said we aren’t giving money to the governor. And I said, ‘OK, you know, I can’t tell them what to do with their money.’"
“So when the brother called me back, I said, ‘Well, look Rob...I can’t raise any money from my friends. I said, maybe my partner and I, you can talk this over and see, could we go to some other people that we might be able to talk to that would help us out if we give--because we give a fund-raiser in the law office, nobody going to show up. We’ll probably have a thousand dollars for you or something to that effect.'"
“Oh, by the way, in that first conversation with him (Rob in October), so that part is where I raise a question about the Senate seat with him. But no other time do we talk about the Senate seat.
So then we came back, and when he called me back the third time, because I went to talk to my partner, and we then assessed the situation and said, ‘Look, you know, I’m interested in the Senate seat. I can’t raise any money for him.’
And so he called me back and I told him back and I told him that. I said, 'No. 1, I can’t raise any money for you and I can’t give you any money because I don’t want to have a conflict.'
I mean, that should give some indication of my commitment right there to get out of pay to play and they're still trying to tie me in to pay to play.”
Q. Do you think this is amounts to a witch hunt on the part of reporters?
“I don’t want to criticize you all because I’ve been criticized for criticizing you all, and I don’t think that gets me anywhere.
“But I just wish that the reporters would look into this, look at the action that is taken and look at the steps in the process. I mean, I have not done anything wrong. I have not given any money. I have not even raised any money. So this whole thing is because of the governor’s problem with trying to sell the seat.
“So if I didn’t give any money, I didn’t raise any money, why would I be having the problems that I’m having? Someone please explain that to me.”
Q: You’re a very bright man and you have served Illinois very well throughout the course of your lifetime?
“Yes.”
Q: You understand, though, how people in the state of Illinois are kind of feeling a rebuke, though, from the process?
“I think that that’s because some of that has come from the media about not being fair to me. The media has not said how I, in the statement, about how, you know, that they tied in, (they) say, well, 'Burris said, here give you money. But he’s dealt with his brother, (it’s) pay to play….'"
“So that’s confusing the public. And the public know me. I mean, I met with some ministers this morning. And they’re saying what is going on? We know Roland Burris hasn’t done anything wrong.
"But the media now is almost destroying my character because they’re not accurately reporting what really transpired. And I think, and I’m not, and I say this, and I get into trouble… But it’s continued to make the thing go.”
Q: Clarify when the last two calls with Rob were?
"They were in November after the election… about Nov. 10th and about Nov. 15th or 16th.
“Thank you. Look. I hope that this is OK. God bless you.”
