Roland Burris
Roland Wallace Burris (born August 3, 1937)[1] is an American retired Democratic politician and attorney who served as Attorney General of Illinois from 1991 to 1995. In January 2009, he was appointed a United States Senator, succeeding Barack Obama, who resigned to become president of the United States.[2] Burris held this position until November 2010, retiring from front-line politics shortly after.[3]
Roland Burris
Berlean Miller
2
In 1978, Burris was the first African American elected to statewide office in Illinois, when he was elected Illinois Comptroller. He served in that office until his election as Illinois Attorney General in 1990. Since then, he has unsuccessfully run for office four more times.[4]
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich appointed Burris to replace President-elect Barack Obama as the junior senator from Illinois. The appointment was controversial, as the governor was already under investigation and there were rumors of his being paid for the appointment.[5][6] Burris succeeded Obama as the U.S. Senate's only African American member.[7] He was briefly a candidate for election to a full term but withdrew before the Democratic primaries in the 2010 elections.[8]
Early career[edit]
After graduating from law school, Burris became National Bank Examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for the U.S. Treasury Department.[15] In that capacity, he traveled throughout the Midwest, examining banks in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. The adversities he faced as an African-American bank examiner in the early 1960s were described in some detail in the February 2013 edition of SuperVisions (the OCC's employee newsletter). From 1964 to 1973, he worked at Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company (now Bank of America), serving as tax accountant, tax consultant, commercial banking officer, and vice-president. He headed a commercial group that covered government guaranteed loans and minority business banking.[16]
In 1973, he was appointed by Illinois Governor Dan Walker as Director of the Department of Central Management Services, serving through 1977.[17]
He was National Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for Operation PUSH from January to October 1977.[17] He was in private law practice from October 1977 to January 1979, and again from June 1995 to present.
In 1985, Burris was selected for the position of vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee. This decision, coming on the heels of the party's landslide loss to President Ronald Reagan, generated controversy, since Gary, Indiana Mayor Richard Hatcher, who had served as the campaign manager for presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, was the nominee of the party's Black Caucus. Jackson harshly criticized the party's actions, and refused to recognize Burris's selection, claiming that it was part of an effort by the Democratic Party leadership to pander to the white American electorate.[18]
Career outside politics[edit]
Burris is manager/CEO of Burris & Lebed Consulting, LLC, which was formed in April 2002.[41]
Burris was featured briefly in a scene from the Hollywood blockbuster The Fugitive, starring Harrison Ford. A scene in the movie, which was mainly shot in Chicago, shows Burris in the St. Patrick's Day parade, waving to spectators.[42]