Pressure builds on Burris to resign

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and other Democratic officials Friday called on Sen. Roland Burris to resign from the Senate, which is investigating him for possible perjury. The White House added pressure on the embattled lawmaker to explain his actions leading up to his appointment.

“To step aside and resign is, I think, a heroic act, and I ask Roland to do that,” Mr. Quinn said at a news conference in Chicago.

The governor said that if the senator does not resign from President Obama´s former seat, state lawmakers should enact legislation to fill the Senate seat by a special election instead of a gubernatorial appointment, a suggestion that drew immediate approval from state Republican leaders.

As calls mounted for Mr. Burris to step down, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said he should “take some time over the weekend” to explain once and for all what actions he took in the run-up to his controversial appointment just before disgraced Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich was impeached and removed from office on charges of attempting to sell the vacant seat to the highest bidder.

“The appointment of Senator Burris and his taking the Senate seat was based largely on the … factual representations that he made to the people of Illinois through interviews and through his testimony to the impeachment committee. It has been reported extensively [that] some of the stories seem to be at variance with what’s happened and that the president is supportive of an investigation that would get some full story out,” Mr. Gibbs said.

“I think it might [be] important for Senator Burris to take some time this weekend to either correct what has been said and certainly think of what lays in his future,” he added.

Mr. Burris kept his vow of silence on the matter Friday as he toured the North Chicago Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.

He has remained in a swirl of controversy since his appointment. But his troubles escalated in the past week after he released an affidavit admitting that he had spoken to several Blagojevich advisers, including the former governor’s brother and finance chairman, whom Mr. Burris said called him three times asking for fundraising help.

In testimony before the impeachment committee, Mr. Burris said he was never part of a quid pro quo fundraising scheme to obtain the Senate appointment, but Illinois legislative leaders this week asked local government prosecutors to investigate Mr. Burris for possible perjury.

Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois and second in the party’s Senate hierarchy, initially opposed Mr. Burris’ appointment by Mr. Blagojevich, and said this week he was “troubled” by the new revelations.

“I hope he will call in some advisers he trusts and get some advice on what to do next,” Mr. Durbin told the Chicago Tribune Thursday while traveling overseas. “At this point, his future in the Senate seat is in question.”

Mr. Durbin and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, dropped their fight to keep Mr. Burris from being seated after he testified before an Illinois state probe into Mr. Blagojevich’s efforts to seek campaign cash and other favors from potential candidates for the Senate seat vacated by President Obama last fall.

“I’m troubled by the fact that his testimony was not complete and it was unsatisfactory,” Mr. Durbin said. “It wasn’t the full disclosure under oath that we were asking for.”

Mr. Reid confirmed that the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat, has opened a preliminary investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mr. Burris’ selection. But it was not clear how quickly the committee would act.

Mr. Reid, talking to reporters after a speech to the Nevada legislature Thursday, said he preferred to let events unfold in Illinois for now. Mr. Burris provided key votes that helped Senate Democrats break a Republican filibuster of the Obama administration’s massive stimulus bill earlier this month.

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