Embattled Sen. Roland Burris is turning out to be just as stubborn as the former governor that appointed him.
It's been nearly five weeks since Burris announced that he would no longer "engage the media and have facts ripped out in selected soundbytes." In fact, at times Burris' office doesn't release his schedule until after an event is over.
That's not to say he's not working. He is. Sort of.
In Chicago on Monday, Burris was warmly greeted by Latino community leaders who honored him for intervening on behalf of two families who were about to see two women deported.
"It is certainly a pleasure for me to be able, as one of my first official acts, is to seek to keep families together," Burris said at the event.
But the news conference the leaders held afterward took place sans Burris, who exited through a back door, holding up his refusal to take any questions from the media.
This from the guy who last month said, "I have nothing to hide and I will continue to be transparent."
In Burris' world, transparency must now mean avoiding conversation with your constituency and rarely acknowledging the crowd as you walk in a parade.
Still, Rev. Albert Tyson on Monday defended Burris' attempts to avoid the media.
"The story was what the senator did, not what the senator says to the media," Tyson said.
But then again, maybe Burris just thinks that we aren't his constituency and he doesn't work for us, seeing as how we never elected him.
