Reid Calls Meeting with Burris ‘Positive’

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said this afternoon that he and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) had a “positive” meeting today with Roland Burris, the former Illinois attorney general appointed by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) to become the state’s next U.S. senator.

“We just had a very positive meeting with Roland Burris. I know that Mr. Burris wants to honorably serve the people of Illinois,” Reid said in a statement released by his office. “Unfortunately, he has been appointed by a man who has been tainted by a serious scandal — one that involves the very seat in question.”

Burris must take several steps in order to become a U.S. senator, Reid said. Those include getting his nomination certified by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, testifying tomorrow before the Illinois General Assembly’s impeachment panel that is examining Blagojevich, and possibly taking his case to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the Senate GOP.

“If there is a solution, it must be reached by the entire Senate — and I have encouraged Mr. Burris to reach out to Leader McConnell and the Republicans,” Reid said.

Reid reiterated his call for Blagojevich to resign and asserted that, if Blagojevich relinquishes his authority to appoint a replacement for Obama, he and Durbin would support Burris’s nomination if Illinois Lieutenant Gov. Pat Quinn (D) were to appoint him.

“As we have said all along, the easiest way forward is still for Gov. Blagojevich to resign his post or be impeached, and to let the lieutenant governor make a selection to fill the vacancy. If he selects Roland Burris, we would have no objection,” Reid said.