Roland Burris controversies over the years

The fiction that Rod Blagojevich's pick for the Senate is clean needs to be corrected. True, Burris has not been tainted by scandal, but the Daily Herald points out that Burris has not stayed away from controversy.

Blagojevich links: After he was defeated by Blagojevich in the Democratic governor primary of 2002, Burris became one of the governor's strongest supporters. He landed an appointment to a state pension board and some of the clients he lobbied for won millions of dollars in state contracts. Burris' lobbying firm even landed a contract with the state's transportation department to promote minority contracting in 2005 and 2006.

Campaign debt: Burris still owes $1.2 million to Joseph A. Stroud of Oak Brook, who owns WJYS-TV, a Tinley Park-based television station. The loan made up a significant portion of Burris' campaign fund in his failed Democratic primary bid for governor in 2002.

Racial comment: In his 1998 primary bid for governor, Burris was caught on videotape telling black supporters his opponents were "non-qualified white boys." Burris apologized for the statement. Burris has recently insisted he never played the race card in his public career.

Pension bump: In 1993, Burris used $28,200 in campaign donations to pay the state to boost his own pension so he could receive the maximum payments when he retired. Such personal use of campaign funds was not illegal at that time.

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Roland Burris is not a break from Illinois' sad past.

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