Under the police reforms, the commissioner has the power to appointandremove Chief Constables and is also responsible for controlling the police budget.
In Illinois, state legislators are now scrambling to remove Mr Blagojevich from office, and the Democrats hope that his successor would then appoint Mr Burris.
If all goes well, the United States is also expected to remove Sudan from its list of states that sponsor terrorism, appoint an ambassador to Khartoum and dole out several million dollars to help rebuild the ruined country.