Burgess - All this money and no one to spend it on

I'm surprised no one is saying much about this story.

From what I can tell, Burgess has given nearly $100,000 to Lauzen over the course of the State Senator's career, along with large sums of money to other politicians. During this time the other politicians have returned the money, Obama and Clinton are two of the largest names but the list also includes various "saints" in politics such as Rod Blagojevich, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and NY AG Andrew Cuomo.

Taking a cursory look at things, it seems that not only was Sen. Lauzen the only career politician to not return the money so soon but he was also the only Republican to receive money from John Burgess and/or his company. Why is this? In the story, Sen. Lauzen claims he doesn't know all the facts to merit a decision of Burgess' guilt or innocence. But this isn't the first time Burgess has been on the wrong side of the law. In the 80's, he was busted for larceny and soliciting a minor.

Granted, that was 20 years ago, but just paying attention to things like the BBB's report and the response from the rest of the political world (all of whom had already distanced themselves from this man), you could see that rehabilitation probably wasn't of much interest. When the big-name politicians, especially Sen. Lauzen's good friend Barack Obama, are saying "no thanks" to money from Burgess it is time to start thinking about how important it is to have this "friend" help you out.