Other than that, it was a great story.
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Burris has been keeping a fairly low profile lately, aside from his spirited appearance in the Saint Patrick’s Day parade (where, according to some press reports, he inspired murmurs and jokes; Cobb sent around pictures of him shaking hands with kids).
“I’ve seen some of the comments written about me—like I must be in it for a paycheck,” she told me in an interview. “For me it’s always been about the people and not the money. I don’t do these things if I don’t believe in them.
She continued: “He can be blamed for a lot of things—he can be blamed for taking the appointment after all the Democrats said not to take it. But it should not be guilt by association, just because Blagojevich is tainted—though we don’t even know how credible that is, given how long it’s taken to file more charges against him.”
Then there are the accusations—seemingly backed by anecdotal and photographic evidence—that Burris is a bit egocentric. Cobb says that’s been blown way out of proportion too: “After 30 years, there are only three things anyone could find that are bad about him: his mausoleum, he named his kids after himself, and he refers to himself in the third person,” Cobb said.
In the meantime, she said, he’s focused on being a legislator. Last week he delivered a speech about gun violence on the Senate floor, and he’s working to try to revive plans to bring a “clean coal” power plant to Illinois. “We now have a senator who really wants to be there and do his job,” she said.
