A rocky week for Roland Burris

Illinois
Sen. Roland Burris (D) saw his list of friends shrink and his troubles worsen
Friday, as blow after blow rocked the embattled senator’s precarious hold on
his seat.

Gov. Pat Quinn called for Burris to
resign. The White House urged him to “take some time this weekend” to consider
it. A third member of Illinois’s congressional delegation joined the chorus of
resignation calls. And Burris lost his interim chief of staff — his second top
adviser in three days.

{mosads}With Burris himself staying in his
Chicago home and shunning public appearances or media interviews, Illinois’s
Democratic congressional delegation largely stayed silent. A round of repeated
phone calls found just two Illinois Democrats publicly standing behind Burris —
Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis.

The most prominent damage came from
Quinn, who held a high-profile press conference in Chicago to ramp up the
pressure on Burris. Calling him “a good friend,” Quinn said Burris has “a cloud
over his head” and cannot continue to serve.

Four hours later, Burris’s interim
chief of staff, Darrel Thompson, announced his resignation to return to Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) office. Thompson had been on loan from
Reid’s office for only two and a half weeks — and his resignation followed that
of Jason Erkes, Burris’s top spokesman, who resigned on Wednesday. Both
Thompson and Erkes emphasized in their resignation announcements that their
tenure was temporary.

By the end of the day, Rep. Jerry
Costello (D-Ill.) stepped out to join Reps. Phil Hare (D-Ill.) and Jan
Schakowsky (D-Ill.) as the only three members of the state’s Democratic
delegation to urge Burris to resign. Costello spokesman David Gillies said
Burris’s resignation “is appropriate.”

“His ability to be effective has been
compromised,” Gillies said.

Burris revealed a week ago that his
contacts with former Gov. Rod Blagojevich — while Blagojevich was considering
appointing him to the Senate — were more extensive than he had acknowledged,
and that he had participated in fundraising efforts for the governor. Burris
had omitted that in his testimony to a state House panel that had investigated
Blagojevich for impeachment, as well as from a pair of affidavits he had completed.

Illinois’s other senator, Majority Whip
Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), was returning from Turkey late Friday but had issued a
statement this week saying Burris’s revelations “raise serious questions,”
following that with comments to the Chicago Tribune that Burris’s Senate future
was “in question.”

On Friday, Quinn’s call for Burris’s
resignation came with a call for a special election, but Gillies said Costello
has “concerns” about the cost and delay of such an approach.

Schakowsky issued a statement saying
that she agreed with the calls for Burris’s resignation, but that Quinn should
have the power to replace Burris anyway, under the 17^th Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution. Quinn could appoint a replacement and a special election
could then be set by the Illinois Legislature, Schakowsky said.

“His resignation is not essential for
him to be replaced,” she said.

Otherwise, repeated calls and e-mails
to representatives for Democratic Reps. Jesse Jackson Jr., Daniel Lipinski, Luis Gutierrez,
Bill Foster and Debbie Halvorson all went unreturned. A spokesman for Rep.
Melissa Bean said the congresswoman would also remain silent.

“We’re declining to comment on it,”
said spokesman Jonathan Lipman.

Among Burris’s few friends: Davis, who
told The Hill he saw no reason to call for Burris to step aside, though he did
say the new senator was in “a pickle.”

A spokeswoman for Rush, an early proponent of Burris’s appointment, said Friday that the
congressman also still supports Burris, though she said Rush was still waiting
for more information to come out.

Reid
Wilson contributed to this article.