Results tagged “govrodblagojevich”

Poor Governor Rod Blagojevich. Everyone's picking on him. First, those no-good feds arrest for simply trying to get the best deal for the empty senate seat. Then everyone gets their panties in a tangle over his appointment of Roland Burris as the new Senator. Now, those jerkstores at the Department of Homeland Security are telling him he is no longer allowed to access classified federal security information. Totally not cool, guys.

Every governor is given such a clearance by Homeland Security to receive briefings on sensitive security information from Homeland Security and other federal agencies such as the FBI, said Amy Kudwa, spokeswoman for Homeland Security. "Being the subject of a criminal complaint, no matter who you are, is a disqualification," she said.

Okay, fair enough. But, seriously, who, then, gets the information about terrorist threats against the state, like The Great Sears Tower Plot of '06? Well, State Police Director Larry Trent and Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Andrew Velasquez are among a group of top state officials who get the classified information and pass it along to the Governor. Patti Thompson, spokeswoman for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, said, "On the day-to-day things, his advisers are briefed. I think things will operate without a hitch because the higher advisers have that clearance."

The battle to seat the new U.S. Senate appointee is getting more interesting and more confusing by the day. Following the appointment of Roland Burris to the vacant U.S. Senate seat by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich earlier this week, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White claimed he would refuse to approve the appointment, saying, "He's a gentleman of impeccable credentials...However, I'm standing by my previous statement that I will not certify any recommendation coming from the governor's office...I'm not a rubber stamp. I'm also the keeper of the seal of the State of Illinois." Now, Burris is fighting back as his lawyers have filed a motion to force White to approve the appointment.

The filing is an official request to the Illinois Supreme Court to accept jurisdiction over the mandamus action, that is, action which compels a lower court or a government officer to perform mandatory or purely ministerial duties correctly.

Continue reading "Burris And White Lock Horns Over Senate Seat"