S-T: Burris Promised Blago $$$

By Marcus Gilmer in News on May 26, 2009 9:20PM

Maybe Senator Burris shouldn't be so relaxed about the release of a taped conversation between him and the governor's brother. The Sun-Times' Natasha Korecki is reporting this afternoon that caught on tape is Burris - before the senate appointment - promising to write the governor a campaign check of $1,500, but Burris attorney contends it was not pay-for-play.

But lawyer Timothy Wright told the Chicago Sun-Times today that his client never sent the check because he believed it wasn’t a good idea given Burris’ interest in the U.S. Senate seat appointment. Wright said Burris’ decision not to send the check had nothing to do with Blagojevich’s Dec. 9 arrest.

Burris made his decision before the arrest, Wright said.

“Sen. Burris, as he said, decided he couldn’t send a check because it wouldn’t look good,” Wright said.

And then:

Wright scoffed at the notion that a promise of a check was part of any pay-to-play scheme.

“Fifteen hundred dollars? Come on” Wright said. “Burris had been a fund-raiser in years past. This had nothing to do with pay-to-play.”

Okay, fine, but there's still that pesky perjury business, you know.