by Carol Henrichs

Created on: September 24, 2009   Last Updated: November 25, 2009

Roland Burris is incapable of winning the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois, because he never had it to begin with. This will likely be substantiated now that he has officially been admonished by a Congressional Ethics Committee.

Burris remains somewhat aloof as he goes about his daily life as a senator, seemingly oblivious to any controversy surrounding his tainted appointment to the U.S. Senate formerly held by President Barack Obama.

Burris recently told "The Chicago Defender," a black Chicago newspaper, that he is having the time of his life in the U.S. Senate. But it will be short-lived. Burris as he has already announced that he would not seek re-election in 2010. Burris is unable to raise the money for a costly senate campaign. And, he has to pay mounting legal bills.

More recently, Burris has been labeled, along with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., as one of the most corrupt members of congress. According to "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics" in Washington, D.C., the distinction is related to how Burris obtained the appointment.

Burris was sent to the senate under questionable circumstances.

Once there, both political parties wanted him to step down. But that is where bipartisanship ended. It was partisanship - Illinois Democrats - that propelled Burris into the U.S. Senate chamber in the first place. In their quest to control the U.S. senate seat vacated by Obama, state Democrats bungled the appointment process, thanks in large part to a political "gotcha" by ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who wanted to get back at the Democrat-controlled legislature that impeached him.

Party leaders U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Harry Reid declared that Senate Democrats would not seat a Blagojevich appointment, but they reneged. Apparently appointing Burris wasn't as bad as the alternative. A special election could have resulted in a Republican victory. That could be the result anyway. Illinois Republicans, who were also against a Blagojevich appointment, may laugh all the way to the ballot box in 2010 providing they find a good candidate to run.

But Burris refused to go away.

If he was the kind of guy who walked away when the odds were against him, he would not be warming that senate seat right now. Burris, who has been called arrogant, acted the part, even before he was sworn in. He called himself the Junior Senator from Illinois, almost as if to wish it so.

That kind of tenacity might be an admirable trait in some cases, though not with Burris'

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