Roland Burris should resign

Roland Burris should resign

Dallas Morning News: Maybe it’s because we’re not from Illinois and don’t have to suffer the indignity of this hack being our U.S. senator, but we sure are getting a kick out of the rolling Roland Burris circus.

Burris is now on at least his fourth story about his contacts with ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich prior to the corrupt former official appointing him to fill Barack Obama’s senate seat.

Burris now appears to have made false statements under oath when testifying about his relationship to Blagojevich, who was impeached after being caught on a federal wiretap allegedly talking about selling the seat Obama vacated. Burris told Illinois lawmakers there was no quid pro quo for his getting the Senate nod from Blago. He has since amended that tale a couple of times and, earlier this week, he admitted that — what do you know! — he’d done some Blago fundraising while the governor was thinking about Burris’ request to take Obama’s place.

Do the right thing

Burris now faces a perjury probe in Illinois and a Senate ethics investigation in Washington. He should do the decent thing and resign, but if he won’t, he should be removed from office.

The Burris affair concerns more than the residents of Illinois. It is a big deal for a senator to be credibly accused of perjury, especially if it involves dirty business related to his gaining power. Besides, a U.S. senator is not a Chicago alderman. He holds real power over the future of an entire nation. Nobody expects the Senate to be the College of Cardinals, but all Americans have the right to expect that the Senate be free of the taint of a perjurer or someone who obtained the office under dubious pretenses.

“You know the real Roland,” Burris told a Chicago gathering Wednesday. “I’ve done nothing wrong, and I have nothing to hide.” It would be nice to think that’s true, except Burris has made it impossible to believe a word he says.