Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (AP) ― A former aide to then Gov. Rod Blagojevich says Roland Burris gave him a call last fall, during which he expressed interest in filling a Senate seat should Barack Obama win the presidency.

Former Blagojevich administration chief operating officer John Filan said Burris also called after Blagojevich's Dec. 9 arrest on federal corruption charges, during which Burris asked Filan to put in a good word with then Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn in the event Quinn became governor, the Chicago Tribune reports in Friday's editions. Filan said he didn't do that.

Burris' contact with Filan was not mentioned in the first affidavits about how he got the job that was filed with state lawmakers.

Last weekend, however, Burris released an affidavit saying he had spoken to several Blagojevich advisers, including Robert Blagojevich, the former governor's brother and finance chairman, who Burris said called three times last fall asking for fundraising help. Burris, a former state attorney general, changed his story again this week when he admitted trying, unsuccessfully, to raise money for Blagojevich.

Burris first publicly expressed his interest in the Senate seat in November. Filan said Burris called him as a courtesy to inform him of his plans to hold a news conference to announce his interest in the Senate.

"He called me the day before to give me a heads-up,' Filan told the Tribune. "He didn't ask me directly or indirectly for me to put a word in for him."

Burris told the Illinois House committee that recommended Blagojevich's impeachment that he hadn't had contact with key Blagojevich staffers or offered anything in return for the Senate seat vacated by Obama.

The same assertion was made in an affidavit Burris filed Jan. 5, before he went before the committee.

In filing a lawsuit in an attempt to get Secretary of State Jesse White to certify his appointment to the Senate, Burris submitted that same affidavit with the Illinois Supreme Court.

The office of Attorney General Lisa Madigan told the Chicago Sun-Times that it has relayed that information to the Sangamon County state's attorney's office, which is investigating whether Burris committed perjury in that document or during testimony before the House panel. A preliminary U.S. Senate Ethics Committee inquiry is also under way. Burris denies lying under oath and has resisted a growing chorus of calls for his resignation, including from within his own party.

Burris is, like Obama was, the only black U.S. senator.

The questions about Burris' honesty have caused many of the city's most influential black pastors who backed Burris' appointment to the U.S. Senate to waver in their support.

A faction of black ministers plans to ask for Burris' resignation following revelations that the senator tried to raise money for the disgraced governor who appointed him, one of the ministers told The Associated Press on Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity because a meeting with Burris had not yet been scheduled.

Clergy Speaks Interdenominational, an umbrella group that includes hundreds of Chicago's black churches, will meet Friday to discuss its support for Burris, spokeswoman Stephanie Gadlin said. For now, the group still supports him and its leaders are unaware of discussions about asking him to resign, she said.

Burris spokesman Jim O'Connor would not say whether the senator would meet with ministers and referred to a statement from Burris asking that leaders "stop the rush to judgment."

Current sentiment in the black community is not unanimous, but the clergy's silence so far as the maelstrom of criticism swells around Burris "speaks volumes," said another minister, Ira Acree, of the Greater St. John Bible Church.

"I'm a little disturbed, but because of his track record, don't want to rush to judgment," Acree said Thursday. "But neither will I attempt to defend his actions."

After Blagojevich named him to the seat, Burris appeared at a New Covenant Church service, where supporters including U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and about 60 ministers condemned Senate Democratic leaders for initially rejecting Burris.

Burris' latest revelations are "making the black community just as suspicious of him as anyone else," said the Rev. Leonard Barr of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church.

But Burris deserves a chance to defend himself and should not step down, he said. "I think he can do the job," Barr said. "He would be a good senator and a conscientious senator."

People who have supported Burris are torn between feelings of anger and betrayal and a desire to keep the only black senator in the country, said Laura S. Washington, a politics professor at DePaul University and columnist for the Sun-Times.

"They're disappointed, embarrassed and worried that the seat will be in jeopardy," Washington said.

Burris, who has said he will not talk to journalists until after the investigations are complete, is scheduled to make appearances Friday in North Chicago at a VA Center and at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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