Durbin: Burris's problem is Blagojevich

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Sunday his opposition to Roland Burris being named to President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat has nothing to do with race.

In an interview on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," the Illinois Democrat said the problem is the state's governor, Rod Blagojevich, not Burris's race. Burris, a former Illinois attorney general, is black and Obama was the U.S. Senate's only African-American.

Durbin added that no one has questioned Burris's integrity.

"In Illinois, sadly, because of the allegations against Governor Blagojevich, there's a question of corruption, as to whether or not something was done which was entirely improper, not a question of counting the votes," he said. "So I think that's the distinction, and why we're looking at this differently. There is no precedent. Nothing like this has occurred, at least in modern memory, in the U.S. Senate."

Durbin said Illinois has elected several blacks to statewide office, going back to 1979 when Burris became state comptroller. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., and some other black politicians have suggested that Senate Democrats will be racially motivated if they refuse to seat Burris.

Blagojevich was arrested in December on corruption charges. Wiretapped conversations suggest he tried to sell Obama's Senate seat.