This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Nov. 5, 2010 - WASHINGTON - Lost in the storm of relentless media coverage about this week's midterm elections was the fact that the only African-American member of the U.S. Senate, Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill., will be leaving Congress later this month to return to Illinois.
"It disturbs me," Burris says, that the new Senate will have additional Hispanic and female members but no black senators at all when the new Congress convenes in January. "You have to have a balance in the Senate, and without a black person, that body is not getting an African-American perspective on important issues."
Burris' abbreviated term in the Senate -- which will end as soon as the state's election board certifies this week's election of Republican Mark Kirk as his replacement -- was marred by controversy over his appointment, late in 2008, to fill the seat vacated by Barack Obama after his election as president.
That appointment was made by then Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the midst of the "pay to play" scandal that eventually led to the governor's removal -- and sparked separate allegations that Burris had made fundraising commitments to the governor's brother that he later denied. After examining the allegations last year, the Senate Ethics Committee took no action against Burris but issued a letter of admonishment.
In an interview Thursday, Burris told the Beacon that fighting those allegations -- "from the time that the [Illinois] secretary of state wouldn't sign the letter from the governor appointing me all the way through the Senate Ethics Committee's questionnaire and inquiry" -- has left him with legal bills of about $800,000. Asked how he would clear that debt, he said: "I'm just hoping that friends will continue to come through so we can raise the money and pay it off."
Looking at his options
Burris, 73, also said that he is considering a possible second run for mayor of Chicago. "I have not ruled it out or ruled it in," said Burris, adding that "there are supporters of mine who are saying that I should run for mayor" and will be "circulating petitions to get me on the ballot."
Before making a decision, he'll assess his prospects to become mayor, a post he sought unsuccessfully in 1995 when he failed to unseat Mayor Richard Daley in the Democratic primary. Now that Daley is stepping down, the likely contenders for the job include Rahm Emmanuel, who recently left his post as Obama's White House chief of staff to make the run.
"The national focus on Rahm [as a mayoral candidate] is just a media fixation," says Burris, who calls the fiery Emanuel "a good friend." Burris adds that several other well-known Democrats may seek the Chicago job and that Emanuel "is not going to be annointed as mayor because he was the president's chief of staff."
In the meantime, Burris remains a senator until Kirk's certification and swearing-in -- possibly as early as Thanksgiving week -- and he says he plans to vote in this month's "lame duck" session of Congress against any effort to extend the Bush-era tax cuts (due to expire at year's end) for people whose income exceeds $250,000 a year. "I will be an Illinois senator until Kirk is sworn in," says Burris. "And if there is no swearing-in, I will be the senator until the 111th Congress adjourns."
Burris had considered running for the Senate seat, he says, but decided against it. He denies that the scandal over his appointment played a role in his decision not to run.
"That was a very tough decision," Burris said. "I was appointed, and I realized that to run I would have to go out and raise lots of money for a campaign. I had to decide whether I was going to go out and raise campaign money or whether I was going to focus on being a senator. And I opted to focus on the Senate."
Inside the 111th Congress
Burris thinks the expiring Bush-era tax cuts should be extended only for the middle class, and the restored taxes on upper incomes used as "a revenue source that would help us deal with the deficit." He also hopes for a compromise on the federal estate tax provisions scheduled to expire.
In general, Burris believes that Obama has done "a fantastic job" as president, and he does not regard this week's Democratic defeats as a repudiation of White House initiatives. Instead, he says the losses mainly result from a failure to communicate effectively to voters the benefits of the economic stimulus, health care and other major laws to emerge from Congress over the last two years.
"We passed more important legislation in the 111th Congress than in any Congress since the Great Depression," he says.
Contending that Obama had inherited "a crisis," he says: "We saved the country from economic disaster. If we had not passed the stimulus and TARP programs, there would have been financial collapse -- not only in America but throughout the world."
Burris is not known as an orator, and his effectiveness in the Senate was limited by his lack of seniority as well as the ethics cloud hanging over his appointment. Even so, he emerged as a reliable vote for most White House initiatives, and he says he is proud to have cast crucial votes for the health-care overhaul and other major bills, including recent legislation to aid small businesses.
"Republican obstructionism prevented us from moving the country faster and farther," he says. "It was a concerted effort to stop the Obama agenda."
While Burris says that some of the right-wing opposition to Obama may have racial overtones, he regards the Republican congressional opposition to the White House agenda as being entirely political.
"There is certainly racism in our society, but you have to be very careful when you start to view the political opposition in racial terms," he says. "Among my colleagues in the Congress, the opposition is just political."
A U.S. Senate without African Americans
As the first African American to be elected to an Illinois statewide office (as comptroller in 1978), Burris says he is proud of his home state's record in electing black officials.
"Look at what Illinois has done for its black politicians, especially with Barack Obama and his rise to the presidency," Burris says. "All three of the most recent African-American U.S. senators came from Illinois; two of them popularly elected [former U.S. Sens. Carol Moseley Braun and Obama] and most recently my appointment."
To help solve the problem of a lack of African-American representation in the Senate, Burris says both major political parties need to do more to encourage more black leaders to enter politics at the local or state level and later compete for congressional seats.
"We've got to get more young blacks in the political pipeline," says Burris. "Obama came up as a state senator, he ran for Congress and lost, but then he ran for the U.S. Senate and won. Now he's in the White House."
In all, only six African Americans have served in the U.S. Senate, with Republican Edward Brooke of Massachusetts elected as senator from 1967-79 and two other black Republicans, Hiram Rhodes Revels and Blanche Bruce, representing Mississippi during the Reconstruction era of the 1870s, when senators were chosen by state legislatures. The only three black Democrats to serve in the Senate -- Obama, Burris and Moseley Braun -- have represented Illinois.
Even though he is now 73, Burris says he has no intention of retiring. "Are you kidding? No way," says Burris with a laugh. An attorney by profession and a former Illinois attorney general as well as state comptroller, Burris says he has plenty of options -- even if he decides not to run for mayor of Chicago.
"I will probably go back to the law business, find a couple of boards to sit on," says Burris. "One thing I won't do is come home and sit down and dry up."