The Burris Affair

Roland Burris promises he won’t make a scene when he shows up in Washington this week to seek a seat in the U.S. Senate, but he has also declared that he is the junior senator from Illinois, that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has no right to stop an appointment by a sitting governor who has been neither indicted nor convicted, and Burris has taken the Illinois secretary of state to court to compel him to certify Burris as senator. Let’s see if he actually allows Blago to accompany him to Washington, as is rumored, before we can decide what Burris defines as a “scene.”

Senate Democrats are preparing for any and every event — from U.S. Capitol Police barring him from entering the chamber to Burris being assigned office space, hiring staff and wandering the building as an unseated U.S. senator.

Senate Democrats had hoped for a neat and tidy scenario in which Patrick Fitzgerald would deliver an indictment next week, at the end of his 30-day deadline. But since Fitzgerald has asked for a 90-day extension, Democrats in Washington are counting on Jesse White, the Illinois secretary of state, to refuse to certify Burris. Should he do so, they will refer the Burris case to the Senate Rules Committee to park it there in hopes of delaying until Blagojevich is impeached and another governor can appoint someone else.

Three things are clear — Senate Democrats will do everything they can to keep Burris out of the Senate, Burris will do everything he can to get in, and the historic economic stimulus will not be Topic A.

SHOULD BURRIS BE SEATED? Ask A.B. returns next week. Please join my weekly video Q & A by sending your questions and comments to askab@digital-release.thehill.com. I look forward to hearing from you — see you then, and Happy New Year!