five-inches and 150 pounds, played safety. After graduating in the class of 1955, “the baddest class ever come outta cen-TRELLya,” he enjoys telling people, he went on to attend Southern Illinois University at Carbondale on a $35-per-quarter scholarship and receive a law degree from Howard University in Washington, D.C. Burris’ story isn’t over quite yet. John Schmidt, the Sangamon County state’s attorney, is investigating whether Burris committed perjury when he testified to the Illinois House impeachment panel about his contact with Blagojevich’s office prior to Burris’ appointment.
On his three-day swing through southern Illinois, Burris declined to talk much about the investigation or the former governor’s 19-count indictment on April 2, except to say that Blagojevich has to handle his own problems, that he hasn’t been contacted by Schmidt’s office but that he’s “ready to cooperate with them in any way, form, or fashion,” and, of course, that he “is the junior senator from Illinois.”
No matter how much he tries to play it down, it’s clear that his legal troubles have weighed heavily on him. Around the time he was named to the Senate, Centralia’s mayor, Becky Ault, called to invite him home, he says. “Then shortly after that, a few changes were made, and things happened, and I wondered whether I’d still be welcome when I got home,” Burris says.
His pool of friends and supporters does indeed appear to have dwindled since the beginning of the year, his once squeaky clean political reputation ruined by Blagojevich’s taint. High-ranking officials from both parties have repeatedly called for his resignation. And although he’s being mum on the question of whether he’ll run in 2010, so far one Democratic challenger, Obama protégé and Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, has thrown a pretty big hat into the ring. By all accounts, Burris has been shunned in Washington, too. Illinois’ senior senator and assistant majority leader, Dick Durbin, who coincidentally grew up not too far from Centralia, in East St. Louis, has all but washed his hands of his junior counterpart, although Burris insists the men enjoy a good working relationship.
But with Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy in poor health and last fall’s race in Minnesota still undecided, Democrats are without those filibuster-proof 60 votes needed to pass bills that Republicans won’t like. So for the time being, Senate Democrats need Burris — and he knows it. In the meantime, Burris says he’s focused on his work. He’s sponsored two bills to prevent the deportation of a family of Mexican immigrants living in Chicago illegally and cosponsored 23 pieces of legis-
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