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Barack Obama
believed that seven candidates were “highly qualified” to succeed him in the
Senate, but the two people Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) has asked to fill
the vacant seat weren’t on the president-elect’s list.
Rep. Danny Davis
(D-Ill.) said he recently discussed filling Obama’s seat with Blagojevich’s
staff, but turned down the embattled governor’s offer.
He told the Chicago Sun-Times, “I just decided there
was too much turmoil, too much disagreement. It was something I wanted to do,
but I said I would not take an appointment from the governor.”
Davis was not on
the list Obama’s staff gave to Blagojevich in December – and neither was former
Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris, who accepted Blagojevich’s offer.
According to the
Dec. 23 report from Obama’s transition team on contacts it had with the
governor’s office, Obama did not want to endorse a single candidate to succeed
him.
However, incoming
chief of staff Rahm Emanuel initially told Blagojevich’s staff that the
president-elect preferred Obama aide Valerie Jarrett. The report said Emanuel
at that point was unaware of Obama’s wish to propose a handful of candidates to
the governor.
After Jarrett
bowed out of consideration, Obama’s transition team delivered the names of a
half dozen, “highly qualified” candidates to Blagojevich’s office: Dan Hynes;
Tammy Duckworth; Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.); Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.);
Lisa Madigan; and Cheryle Jackson.
Davis, who had
publicly expressed an interest in the Senate seat, was notably absent.
Blagojevich’s
selection of Burris this week has infuriated Democratic leaders in Washington,
who had warned the embattled governor to refrain from seeking to fill the Senate
vacancy.
That did not stop
Blagojevich, who said he was required by state law to pick Obama’s successor.
Even though Obama
and Senate Democratic leaders are refusing to seat Burris, Davis and Rep. Bobby
Rush (D-Ill.) have suggested that Burris should succeed Obama.
The Washington Post reported last month that
Obama and Blagojevich were never close, noting that the Obama campaign did not
ask the governor to address the Democratic convention last summer while it made
speaking offers to the Illinois treasurer, the comptroller, the attorney
general and a Chicago city clerk.
Furthermore,
Obama endorsed Burris over Blagojevich in the 2002 gubernatorial primary.
Despite tension
between the president-elect and Blagojevich, Obama’s staff could help
Blagojevich fend off charges that he tried to personally benefit from selling
the Senate seat.
The December
report from Obama’s transition team states that there was “no indication of
inappropriate discussions with the governor or anyone from his office about a
‘deal’ or a quid pro quo arrangement in which he would receive a personal
benefit in return from any specific appointment to fill the vacancy.”
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