Some GOP still pushing for Senate special election
SPRINGFIELD - Illinois Republicans are in no hurry to fill President-elect Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat.
Despite reports that Roland Burris would gain the seat this week, Republican lawmakers on Monday again urged the Democrats who control Illinois politics to let voters decide who should be the next U.S. senator. Republicans, and some Democrats, said the state could keep costs down by having the election alongside local elections in April.
Blagojevich now has sole authority to fill the vacancy, and he named former state Attorney General Roland Burris. His appointment created a firestorm as U.S. Senate leadership initially rejected him and said it'd do the same to any Blagojevich pick, since the governor was arrested last month on charges that included trying to sell off the appointment for personal and political gain.
The House impeached the governor last week, and a state Senate trial begins later this month.
However, in Washington, negotiations made it appear Monday that Burris would soon be seated in the U.S. Senate.
Still, some Republicans said they think a special election remains an option.
"The governor's impeachment makes Roland Burris' appointment seem to us even more unlikely to stand," said downstate Republican state Rep. Ron Stephens.
"We have become the butt of jokes in the national media," added state Rep. David Reis, an Effingham-area Republican. "That is embarrassing."
Republicans weren't the only ones focused on an election. Before word of Burris' seating arrived, state Rep. Jack Franks, a Woodstock Democrat, issued a statement saying he'd introduced emergency legislation calling for a special election to be timed with the April 7 municipal elections.
Shortly after the governor's arrest, lawmakers rushed back to the Capitol, saying they'd strip him of the appointment power. But Democrats balked at the potential $30 million price tag for the special election while privately grumbling that an election would give Republicans a shot at winning the seat.