While it may be true that Roland Burris was a “public figure in Illinois for some time at fairly high levels….”, I don’t think you should jump to the conclusion that we should rally around his appointment by embattled Governor Blagojevich for that reason. While I appreciate the constitutional issue involved, I am more than happy to see the appointment and seating of this former attorney general, who worked campaigned aggressively to seek the death penalty for an innocent man, hang in limbo.
A snippet of the story from Politico.com follows.
“…….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…………'”
