The Friends of Roland Burris

Blogo's appointee to the United States Senate has been hailed as an honest man, but he has served as a character witness for a couple of guys with Mob ties. Steve Gilbert has unearthed a report from over 5 years ago from the National Legal and Policy Center that includes some interesting information:

Roland Burris having been a character witness for a Teamster expelled from office for associating with organized crime....

Last January, the "in-house judge" of the Laborers' Intl. Union of N. Amer. permanently barred three relatives from holding office in Local 1001. Based on the testimony of law enforcement officials, frmr. mob associates, and informants under witness protection, Peter F. Vaira concluded that Bruno Caruso, his brother, Frank "Toots", and their first cousin, Leo, had been associates of the mafia, known in Chicago as the "Outfit," for more than 40 years. ....

...on Jan. 17, Local bosses met with an unnamed "national union official" and "agreed to enter into a voluntary supervision agreement if Burris is appointed to that role."

This is not Burris's first involvement with allegedly corrupt unions. While serving as attny. gen. in 1994, Burris was a character witness for Robert T. Simpson Jr., frmr. pres. of Intl. Bhd. of Teamsters (IBT) Local 743. In spite of that testimony, the fed. Independent Rev. Bd. (IRB) ruled that Simpson had allowed Donald Peters to continue his influence of the Chicago local after Peters had agreed to have nothing to do with the union. Peters was named as a defendant in the 1988 fed. racketeering lawsuit against the IBT. (Emphasis by Steve Gilbert)

To be fair, there's nothing illegal here. All this shows is that he made his living in the sewer of Chicago politics. Just like you know who.

Congressman Bobby Rush must be a very good friend of Burris. He's the old guy who stood and spoke on his behalf at Blago's recent press conference.

"Blagojevich was aided by Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., in an effort to make Burris' appointment a racial issue.

Rush called Blagojevich's appointment a 'good decision,' and praised Burris, who is black, as 'worthy.'..."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6549970&page=1
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From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
PROFILE: BOBBY RUSH:

* Democratic Member of Congress

* Member of the radical Progressive Caucus

* In 1968, went AWOL from the U.S. Army

* Co-founder of the Illinois branch of the Black Panther Party

* In 1969, served six months in jail for an illegal weapons conviction

* Advocates reparations for African Americans

"Bobby Rush has described his involvement with the Black Panthers as part of his maturation process, as a youthful indiscretion that he abandoned immediately after Hampton's death. He described his role mostly as running the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast for Children program.

But Bobby Rush served six months in jail for a 1969 illegal weapons conviction and, even after his release, in 1971 his comrades were still describing him as the 'Deputy Minister of Defense' for the Black Panther Party in Illinois. In 1992 the socialist magazine In These Times praised fledgling congressional candidate Rush, writing that he 'has continued to support progressive policies and has never disavowed his Panther past...."

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1198
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From the Maoist Internationist Movement:
[1960s/original] Black Panther Party [BPP] Archives
From the article: REVOLUTIONARY HEROES

"On May 1st, May Day [1969], the day of the gigantic Free Huey rally, two of Alioto's top executioners vamped on the brothers from the Brown Community who were attending to their own affairs. These brothers, who are endowed with the revolutionary spirit of the Black Panther Party defended themselves from the racist pig gestapo.

Pig Joseph Brodnik received his just reward with a big hole in the chest. Pig Paul McGoran got his in the mouth which was not quite enough to off him.

The revolutionary brothers escaped the huge swarm of pigs with dogs, mace, tanks and helicopters, proving once again that "the spirit of the people is greater than the man's technology."

To these brothers the revolutionary people of racist America want to say, by your revolutionary deed you are heroes, and that you are always welcome to our camp."

Source: Maoist Internationist Movement
Article: REVOLUTIONARY HEROS (May 11, 1969):
http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/bpp/index.html

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