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Burris Still Part of Special Election Debate
People can't stop talking about the junior senator from Illinois. At least, lawmakers are still trying to force a special election for the U.S. Senate seat former Gov. Rod Blagojevich is accused of trying to sell for personal gain.

The skirmish continued this week in Springfield, as a House committee voted down a pair of bills that would have set up a special election. After that, State Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) accused the sponsor, State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock), of gamesmanship, though Franks says he tried in December to strip Blagojevich of his power to appoint a Senate successor to President Obama.

The man who became senator was Democrat Roland Burris, who has since changed his story a number of times about the amount of contact he had with Blagojevich insiders -- and whether he tried to raise money for Blagojevich. Nevertheless, he just may serve in the U.S. Senate at least until his term is up after 2010.

Republicans reject Democrats' arguments that a special election would be prohibitively expensive, saying the Democrats simply want to hold onto the seat, Burris or not. But ironically, Republicans in Illinois have so far been reluctant to have special elections to fill slots on their own state central committee.

(Illinois Radio Network)
03 12 09 by Newsroom
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