The truth slowly dribbles out

First, Senator Roland Burris of Illinois denies under oath to the Illinois House Impeachment Committee that he had any contact with representatives of disgraced ex-Governor Rod Blagojevich before he was appointed seemingly out of nowhere to serve the rest of President Obama's unexpired Senate term, testifying only that he had had a "brief conversation" with the governor before being named as Obama's replacement, as well as having "discussed the seat with a longtime Blagojevich friend last summer".

Then, Burris is forced to admit in a cute little memo over the weekend that Blago's brother Robert did indeed hit him up for a campaign donation for his ol' bro before the appointment, a pretty relevant and important development that Burris conveniently forgot to mention during his sworn testimony, especially since he was asked directly if such a conversation took place:

"The new affidavit submitted to the impeachment panel indicated contact not only with Robert Blagojevich, but with Blagojevich's former chief of staff John Harris and two other close friends — all of whom Burris had been specifically asked about by the committee's top Republican." (Emphasis mine)

Just a slight oversight, I'm sure. The bad memory and all.

Now, Burris lets out yet another belated little nugget of information, this time that he actively attempted to raise campaign funds for the embattled governor well before Obama's election, a detail that he forgot to include not only in his House testimony, but in the affidavit correcting his sworn statements as well.

"Burris also said he planned to release later this week "a concise document" related to his testimony, but he would not elaborate."

Yet another affidavit, we suppose. It should make for interesting reading. What else hasn't he disclosed?

Is it any wonder that lawmakers in that hotbed of rotten official corruption have introduced legislation banning putting state officials' names on highway signs, billboards and the like? They apparently are wasting too much money changing the "Welcome" signs every time a public official gets bounced out of office and into the pen, an all-too-common occurrence there.