Another chapter in disgraceful IL politics began writing itself this week. Faced with legal bills that will run as high as $400,000, Burris' lawyer Tim Wright of Gonzalez, Saggio & Harlan applied for permission to solicit contributions.
You can't make this kind of stuff up, and here in the Land of Lincoln, the story of political vacuity continues to get longer and ever more exasperating.
Burris applied Monday to the Senate Ethics Committee to establish a legal defense fund, which would allow him to accept contributions for legal fees from individuals of up to $10,000 per donor, the Senate source said.
Note that the first senate action Burris has initiated is to petition the Ethics Committee to raise funds to defend himself against charges of perjury, for so obviously and poorly lying to get the job in the first place.
It will be interesting to see who exactly would jump onto this bed of nails considering the foggy nature of IL politics. "Big Jim" Thompson is absent from this mess, at least at the surface; he's the go to guy for corrupt Rs, and has worked some fine deals with Ds to fleece taxpayers of both parties for "public works" projects that benefit a select few inner circle IL elite. And Blago would chip in under normal circumstances, but he's got his own legal bills he hasn't paid, and is trying to raise funds for. Burris alone has added $100,000 to his legal bills. But, you know, here in IL lawyers sucking money from wherever they can is okay, right? There will always be one to defend IL pols, because the money is soooo good...when you can collect.
Senate Ethics Committee decisions can take several weeks, and Burris has yet to pay any legal bills, so they are stacking up. Until the committee makes a decision even if it approves the request (which it probably will despite every voter in IL wishing it would not be so)Burris cannot even solicit funds.
Who's taking bets that he already has solicited for money? That's how IL politics works; rules for thee are not rules for me. My bet is he already has donors lined up, that's why he applied. This time he'll have his lawyer keep his story straight. Maybe.