Showing posts with label burris to be seated. Show all posts
Showing posts with label burris to be seated. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Obama Urged Seating Burris?

If that's the case, once again, Obama shows he's a very wise man. Some fights aren't worth it. 
HP: The apparent decision to seat Roland Burris came after aides to President-elect Barack Obama contacted senior Senate Democrats and suggested that they reverse course and accept Gov. Rod Blagojevich's controversial appointment, according to a senior Dem congressional aide.

Just minutes after the decision to seat Burris was reported, Obama offered the veteran Illinois pol praise and promised a working relationship.

"That is a Senate matter," he said of the news. "But I know Roland Burris, obviously he is from my home state. He is a fine public servant, if he gets seated then I am going to work with Roland Burris like all other senators to make sure that the people if Illinois and the people across the country are served."
Burris press conference. He's a rather eccentric guy. I hope that means he's smart:


Reid on Burris

Democrats Ready to Seat Burris

This is a good move since the Blago appointment of Burris has become more of a spectacle than anything else. It's not a fight worth fighting. I'll bet he'll make the senate more interesting, too.

WASHINGTON - The Associated Press has learned Senate Democrats plan to accept Roland Burris for President-elect Barack Obama's vacant seat.

NBC news reports Burris is meeting with the Senate leadership now as Senate Democrats look for ways to defuse the standoff that has denied Burris a Senate seat.

Dianne Feinstein has been urging his seating:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, told reporters Tuesday evening that Burris should be seated.

"If you don't seat Mr. Burris, it has ramifications for gubernatorial appointments all over America," the California Democrat said. "Mr. Burris is a senior, experienced politician. He has been attorney general, he has been controller, and he is very well-respected. I am hopeful that this will be settled."

In a piece of political theater, Burris, 71, tried and failed Tuesday to take Obama's seat.

Obama Announces Nancy Killefer for Chief Performance Officer

Update: Killefer withdraws. 
In a press conference today, Obama announces Nancy Killefer as chief performance officer. She will essentially boost the financial performance of government programs and get rid of waste. See video below
Here is her bio from Our Public Service, where she's a board member:
Nancy Killefer is a senior director in the Washington, D.C. office of McKinsey & Company, Inc. She is a leader of McKinsey’s Public Sector Practice, specializing in developing strategies and improving organizational effectiveness for a wide range of government clients.
Nancy joined McKinsey in 1979 and during her career has focused on strategy, marketing, and organizational effectiveness and efficiency issues with an emphasis on consumer-based and retail industries.
From 1997 to 2000, Nancy served as Assistant Secretary for Management, CFO, and COO at the United States Department of the Treasury. In addition to overall management responsibilities for Treasury’s 14 bureaus and 160,000 people, she led a major modernization at the Internal Revenue Service, prepared Treasury’s systems for Y2K, and reshaped management processes, including installing an asset management program across the Treasury Department.
After returning to McKinsey in 2000, she joined the IRS Oversight Board, a public-private entity akin to a corporate board that oversees its IRS. She served there from 2000 to 2005 and was its Chairperson from 2002 to 2004.
Nancy received her M.B.A. from the Sloan School of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a B.A. with honors in economics from Vassar College. Prior to business school Nancy worked as an associate at Charles River Associates, a microeconomics consulting firm.
Here's an article Killefer wrote with a colleague for Business Week.
After the conference, Obama was asked about Roland Burris. The democrats may have had a change of heart and may welcome him to the senate. Obama didn't say anything new on Burris. Apparently, the democrats are still working on some sort of deal.
Here's the entire press conference, which was pretty short.

Q&A portion. Chuck Todd sounds frustrated.