Pat Dollard | Young Americans

The Hill:

By J. Taylor Rushing

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Tuesday he privately urged Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) to resign from the Senate, but that Burris refused.

Speaking at a packed, cramped, quickly called press conference following a 59-minute meeting with the embattled senator, Durbin reported on his first face-to-face meeting with Burris in 10 days, suggesting the meeting was a contentious one.

Durbin said he told Burris he was “disappointed” in Burris’s recent revelations that his contacts with and fundraising for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) — while Blagojevich was considering appointing Burris to the Senate — were more extensive than he has publicly admitted.

“I told him under the circumstances that I would consider resigning, if I were in his shoes,” Durbin told reporters. “He said he would not resign, and that was his conclusion… It’s now up to Sen. Burris to deal with the facts and challenges before him.”

Durbin added that he could not force Burris out of office, but that he would not support him for re-election in 2010. The majority whip said he asked Burris point-blank whether he would run for re-election and Burris told him he had not yet decided.

“I told him I thought it would be extremely difficult for him to be successful in a primary or general election under the circumstances,” Durbin said.

Durbin said he still believed a special election for the seat would be best, but that such an election would cost Illinois up to $50 million and could not be synchronized with other state elections.

Durbin’s stance puts him somewhat at odds with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has said publicly he would work with Burris.

Durbin said he would do the same but that Burris has been politically compromised by the revelations.

Durbin said Burris also told him he faces mounting legal bills in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

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FOX:

Durbin Meets With Intransigent Burris

Sen. Roland Burris would not talk about the hour-long meeting with Sen. Dick Durbin, which reportedly was going to include a pledge by Burris to abandon the appointed seat in 2010.

Sen. Dick Durbin asked new U.S. Sen. Roland Burris to resign on Tuesday, but Burris would not, the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat said Tuesday.

Durbin, the Democratic whip, told reporters the hour-long meeting that he was disappointed that when he asked Burris to quit, he said he would not.

“I told him that under the circumstances, I would consider resigning if I were in his shoes. He said he would not resign,” Durbin said.

Burris, who has been in office for little more than a month, darted out of the meeting and refused to discuss the details.

“I’m under orders not to speak about this,” Burris said, noting his lawyers have told him to stop talking publicly about the events preceding his appointment to the seat by ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich

Durbin said he did not get the answers he hoped from the senator, who is being investigated into whether he perjured to an Illinois House panel deciding whether to impeach Blagojevich.

Burris arrived at his Senate office Tuesday morning with little to say to reporters but facing considerable pressure from his own party leaders.

Last week while traveling in Greece, Durbin, the senior senator from Illinois, said he wanted to hear from Burris before giving an opinion on whether he should quit the post handed to him by Blagojevich, who was arrested in December on charges of pay-to-play schemes out of the governor’s mansion

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Tuesday that Burris was expected to tell Durbin that he isn’t going to resign despite the Illinois attorney’s investigation and a probe by the Senate ethics committee, but was going to soften his message by saying he will not run for the seat in 2010.

Burris would not confirm that report earlier in the day. Durbin said Burris also did not offer a clue on whether he would seek election when his appointment expires.

Despite the building pressure, Burris spokesman Jim O’Connor said the senator is keeping a regular schedule on Tuesday and could even make a speech on D.C. voting rights before a Senate vote on the legislation later in the day. The senator also was going to attend a joint session of Congress for a speech Tuesday night by President Obama.