The Blago-Burris affair has been simmering away quietly in the background for the last few months. And today brought some interesting news, via the Chicago Sun-Times.
Burris’ lawyer said that last November — about a month before Blagojevich picked him to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat — Burris promised Blago’s brother he’d write a check to the then-governor’s campaign.
The conversation was picked up on the FBI’s wiretap of Blago, and was released as part of the ongoing Senate Ethics committee investigation into the circumstances around Burris’ appointment, and Burris’ shifting explanations of it.
Burris’ lawyer said Burris never followed through on the pledge “because it wouldn’t look good.”
Burris has said he never promised Blago anything in return for the Senate seat. And the recorded conversation does not appear to show Burris making his promise of a check conditional on any favor from Blago. Still, the news that Burris had previously pledged to contribute campaign cash to the then-guv won’t do much to burnish Burris’ already tarnished image.