Leave race out of choosing senator

Let's leave God out of it.

Let's leave race out of it.

And, heck, if we really want to do what's good for the state of Illinois, let's leave political party out of it. (Now, that's heretical.)

The committee considering the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich reconvenes today in Springfield, somewhat belatedly now that the governor has taken advantage of the holiday recess to appoint Roland Burris as Illinois' new senator.

Meanwhile, Burris is in Washington, D.C., to crash the Senate's swearing-in today of freshmen senators at a time when his appointment is before the Illinois Supreme Court and Senate Democrats refuse to seat anyone named by federally charged Blagojevich.

It's a mess of gigantic proportions made even messier by the idea that the seat is owed to anyone, or owned by anyone.

Burris fanned those flames Sunday from the pulpit of a South Side Chicago church when he declared, "They can't deny what the Lord has ordained," claiming a new dimension to an appointment that so far has been ordained only by Blagojevich.

More troubling is the issue of race. woven through this piece of political theater almost from the moment of Blagojevich's arrest on Dec. 9 on charges he tried to sell president-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat, among other allegations.

The Illinois General Assembly hustled to react, but quickly dropped the idea of a special election that would have filled Obama's remaining term and headed off an appointment by Blagojevich. The reason? The $30 million cost of a special election, but also, Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago said, a recognition that Democrats - and specifically black Democrats - could lose the seat in an open vote. "There was a feeling on the part of many African-Americans that a special election would be a disadvantage to African-Americans who wanted to run," Davis said.

Blagojevich masterfully played the race card in appointing Burris, setting up a standoff with Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who is black and kept to his word to refuse to sign off on Burris' appointment, and putting Blagojevich's opponents in the awkward position of rejecting the candidate who would be the Senate's only black member.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush of Chicago eagerly took up the race issue, calling the Senate "the last bastion of plantation politics" during the meeting Sunday of black leaders and ministers at New Covenant Church in Chicago. The alternatives now available for seating a new senator are challenging and threaten to deny Illinois citizens full representation for some time to come.

We urge the General Assembly to move quickly to impeach Blagojevich, which would pave the way for a new senator to be appointed by current Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn. In the meantime, we call on Burris and his backers to denounce rhetoric that promotes racial division.