Burris tries to move ahead

In an attempt, albeit small, to move beyond the scandal that has top Democrats calling for his resignation, Illinois Sen. Roland Burris issued a press release not long after President Barack Obama's address Tuesday night.
Then he appointed two top staffers this morning.
Burris has had problems in his first weeks as a senator getting a staff up and running.
After he voted for Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, he issued a joint statement with senior Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin.
This time, after Durbin called for his resignation, Burris went it alone.
He points out in the release how proud he was that one of his first votes in the Senate was for that stimulus plan and he pledges to work with Obama moving forward, never mind that even Obama's own staff indicated Burris should consider stepping down and that he needs to give the public a deeper explanation of his dealings with ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Meanwhile, Burris appointed Brady King as his 'interim' chief of staff and Jim O'Conner as his communications director. The appointments come shortly after a few people jumped ship from Burris' Senate staff.
According to Burris' press release --- King, a Capitol Hill veteran since 1992, has served Representative Chet Edwards (D-TX) as Appropriations Advisor, Representative Allen Boyd (D-FL) as Legislative Director, and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) as Defense Policy Advisor. King holds degrees from Texas A&M University and Baylor University, and he is completing a PhD at Temple University.
And -- O’Connor is a veteran of Chicago and Illinois politics. O’Connor has served as Press Secretary for US Senate candidate Blair Hull, Political Director at the firm of Wilhelm & Conlon, and has most recently been based in San Francisco as a political commentator for Bay-area evening news station, KRON4.

The Obama address press release follows:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Tonight United States Senator Roland W. Burris issued the following statement in response to President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress:

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides us with the greatest tool in our economic arsenal—the first step to re-igniting the great American economic engine through targeted tax relief, job creation, infrastructure, education projects, and more. I’m proud to have cast one of my first votes as a United States senator for this legislation. It’s a testament to what Congress and the White House can achieve when they work together, and it represents some long awaited relief for working class families around the country and for those in Illinois.

“Since December 2007, America has shed over 3.6 million jobs. The national unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 7.6 percent—a number of jobless Americans almost equal to the entire population of Illinois. Without the type of swift, comprehensive action, economists estimate that an additional five million job losses could occur this year and the unemployment rate could rise to 10 percent.

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will create or save 3.5 million good paying jobs nationally over the next two years, and an estimated 148,000 of these jobs will be in Illinois. Getting America back to work is the first step on the road to economic recovery and long-term competitiveness and prosperity.

“The economic crisis is our shared challenge, and only by acting in a coordinated and comprehensive way will we find our path to economic recovery. By addressing job creation and tax relief, strengthening housing prices and stabilizing the financial markets, President Obama has laid out a strong and sensible plan to put this country back on track for growth and prosperity.”