Sen. Franken, Sen. Burris - Who will be seated and when?

The current Governor of Illinois has appointed Roland Burris (D-IL) as the person to replace PE-Obama in the US Senate. The state of Minnesota is slated to announce on Monday, 1-5-09, that Al Franken (D-MN) has received the most votes in his contest against former incumbent Senator Norm Coleman. Unfortunately both incoming Senators may not be treated to the same friendly welcome as the incoming President Elect.
Tuesday, 1-6-09, is swearing in day for new Senators, but both of the new Senators listed above might not be invited to their rightful inaugural. Reports on the Sunday talk shows indicate that there may still be room for negotiations, but what seems odd is that there needs to be any negotiations before seating legally elected or appointed Senators.

As with most soap operas this series has many story lines. One is that Sen Majority Leader Harry Reid has claimed a Nixon/Cheney like position when he said "there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to" (just like Watergate or Gitmo, even though the courts have indicated otherwise; Dear Sen Reid: there are laws on the books that do not allow Senators to do whatever they want). Then there are the Republicans that are not yet willing to seat incoming Sen. Franken, even if the state of Minnesota declared him the winner as a result of the vote recount; and the Democrats are not yet willing to allow incoming Sen. Burris even though he is the legal appointee of the current Governor of Illinois. Add the side notes that the Conservatives are not fond of Franken for his frequent dissing of Bill O'Reilly and his ilk; while Sen. Reid has to explain conversations he had with Blagojevich that make it appear he is not interested in letting a black person join, what would be without a black Senator from IL, an all-white Senate; and you might have a good TV script for a show called "The Senate" instead of the "West Wing". The problem is these people were elected to legislate and provide oversight of the executive branch, not become celebrities that get rewrite privileges with their scripts.

As a citizen I am extremely disappointed in the Republican Party partisanship that refuses to accept the legally declared winner of an election as could be the case with incoming Sen. Franken. But I am even more disappointed with the Democratic Party partisanship that would deny a legally qualified person a seat in the US Senate for the reason they are denying him his seat; which appears to be, not because of his potential to be a good US Senator, but because of his perceived lack of re-electability (i.e as quoted by Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in one of their movies, and said with a South African apartheid driven accent: "He's Black").

Personally, I hope as part of their 2009 Resolution, that Sen. Reid and Sen. McConnell will put aside the partisanship and do what is right for all Americans not just their individual political parties. Seat the legally nominated/appointed incoming Senators and focus on legislation and oversight inside the Senate chambers.

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	Senate Democrats yield to Obama, retreat on Burris	Associated Press	Fri Jan 2	21
	Franken declares Senate race win after state ruling - CNN.com	CNN	Mon Jan 5	0