A Senator Roland Burris Investigator died in a car crash. Burris Pictured
A State of Illinois Investigator investigating the perjuries of Roland Burris has died in a car crash. There has been no comment from the Senator Roland Burris.. Burris is under state investigation in “pay for play” lying, perjury in his appointment by the now impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.
Senator Roland Burris is also under investigation by the US Senate Ethics Commitee and others for lying, on Blago, and his lobbying for and licensing of the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.
It is clear by his own admission that he was hired as a lobbyist for the organization he licensed to manage the IFDA Preneed trust.
The State Funeral Directors Association lost, stole, misappropriated nearly 100 million dollars of the good folks funeral money in the State of Illinois.
When funeral preneed funds are misappropiated funeral costs are raised and consumers suffer.
“John Ruff, a key figure in the perjury investigation of U.S. Sen. Roland Burris was killed in an automobile accident Monday in Kendall County. He was 42-years-old”
A State of Illinois investigator of Roland Burris perjuries dead in an auto accident, no witnessed.
It is unclear how the Car crash death of the investigator will set the Burris investigations back.
Funeral Industry|Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy.
Burris Picture from Flickr under the Creative Commons licence from
Roland Burris Has Declared his innocence in the ILLINOIS FUNERAL DIRECTORS ASSOCIATION SCAM
State of Illinois Senator Roland Burris has declared himself innocent in the Illinois Funeral Directors Ponzi Scheme. Whether this is true or not remains to be seen. It seems that Senator Roland Burris thinks that a mistep(Fraud?) 30 years ago may not apply to him today.
But the fact of the matter he lobbied for the Preneed Trust Scam in 2oo7. That is not 30 years ago. The fund which lost and misappropriated funeral funds has losses estimated between 59 and 100 million dollars.
*Burris said he had no improper role with a pre-need trust fund formerly overseen by the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.
“Burris was state comptroller when the IFDA was given authority to oversee the trust fund and later acted as lobbyist for the group.
After the trust fund ran into financial and legal difficulty, current Comptroller Dan Hynes stripped the IFDA of its trust fund role.
“I don’t have any reason to discuss that issue,” Burris said. “I was comptroller 30 years ago.”
Asked if he offered any solutions to problems with the fund when he was lobbying for the group, he said, “No, I was just giving them access to the government people. That’s all I was doing.”
Certainly in the name of honesty Roland Burris has reason to discuss this issue. Citizens of the state want him to talk on this Scandal. Illinois Senator Roland Burris refuses to declare his role or how he was paid by the scam, perpetuated by the Illinois Funeral Directors Association.
Funeral Industry| Funeral Blog by Your Funeral Guy
Burris Picture from flickr under the creative commons liscence from
More Folks are On the Net Talking about the Illinois Funeral Scandal
Recently there have been other bloggers and writers who have been blogging|writing about the Illinois Funeral Directors Association on the Web. If you google Illinois Funeral Directors Association your funeral guy’s blogs come up as the main blogs on the subject. The reason for that is that yours truly was the only one blogging on the subject between March 1st 2008 and February 1st 2009.
Here Are a few Recent Blogs from other folks.
Illinois Review On the Senator Burris Subpoena- Illinois Review. April 11th 2009
“The plaintiffs, who are suing the IFDA for alleged mismanagement, say they want to know why Burris allowed the group to manage the trust, and they want records of his lobbying activities.
Yet another scandal brewing around Illinois’ newest junior senator…one that might not be so easy to bury.”
“The association wrote down the value of its trust $59 million last fall and was stripped of its license as trustee. Merrill Lynch Trust Co. now serves as trustee, and one of its former advisers, Edward Schainker, has been accused by the secretary of state’s office with failing to tell how the association’s funds were invested. The association itself and many of its past and former executives, including NFDA Secretary Randall Earl, are being sued in multiple lawsuits.”
By far the best blog out there on the Illinois Funeral Directors Association is Deathcarelaw.com
The Illinois Funeral Directors Association has been ordered by the Comptroller of the State of Illinois to repay the underfunded pre need fund in Illinois some ten million dollars. This figure is the approximate amount the the IFDA took ..
This seems to be the game being played in IL as it relates to the fraud, misrepresentation and politics surrounding the Illinois Funeral Directors Association Trust (“the trust”), the investment vehicle used to “protect” the funds of IL …
Remember That Whole Thing About Burris Being a …. Poor Comptroller? –May 19th 2009-ArchPundit
On October 9th 2009, Otrib.com recommended Your Funeral guy’s book for saving money on Funeral Costs.
Funeral Costs and General Facts
For advice on how to minimize funeral costs, read:
“Rest in Peace: Insider’s Tips to the Low Cost Less Stress Funeral,” by R Brian Burkhardt.
To learn more about your rights as a consumer, visit the Federal Trade Commission’s funeral-facts page……
In August 2009 Your Funeral Guy was repeatedly referred to as NicheProf -Naymz by Bloggers and News organizations on the web.
In July 2009, the blog yourfuneralguywordpress.com was featured in the top 100 blogs WordPress.com blogs, it’s called a Hawt post.
Quote from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel May 10th 2009.
Your Funeral Guy in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
‘The entire funeral industry model is changing, said R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in Wheaton, Ill., who blogs about the industry at yourfuneralguy.com.
Consumers are spending less on funeral services, the result of the economic downturn. “People are cutting back because they have to,” Burkhardt said. “People are walking in and demanding less.Check out the full Milwaukee Sentinel Journal Article .
Quoted Speaking Up for NFDA Integrity
Your Funeral Guy -Quoted in the Funeral Service Insider a Kates-Boylston Publication 0n April 6th 2009.
Randall L “Earl is also coming under fire on the Internet.In his blog “Your Funeral Guy,”
Your Funeral Guy Quoted in KatesBolyston Publication The Funeral Service Insider
states that Earl’s involvement with alleged misdeeds at the IFDA
may hurt the national association.
He writes, “The integrity of the IFDA has been destroyed. THE INTEGRITY OF THE NFDA, NATIONAL FUNERAL DIRECTORS
ASSOCIATION NEEDS TO BE QUESTIONED ASWELL.”
When contacted by phone, Burkhardt had more harsh words for the leaders at NFDA. “I see the integrity of the
profession as a little at stake here,” he says. “And I would think that (Earl) would want to put
that above being treasurer of NFDA
or anything like that. The profession needs as much integrity as it can get right now, and him
being on the executive board is not good for the whole mess.”
The Quote from Newsweek March 16 2009
BUSINESS: “Where Death Comes Cheap” (p. 45). Associate Editor Matthew Philips reports ……. “There’s a major movement toward low-cost options right now,” says R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in Wheaton, Ill., who writes an industry blog called Your Funeral Guy.
Your Funeral Guy on the Funeral
“Those businesses that adjust will do fine — and those that don’t will be gone.”
Your Funeral Guy was Quoted in World Net Daily on Illinois Senator Roland Burris and a funeral Ponzi Scam
Quote from World Net Daily posted January 16th 2009.
R. Brian Burkhardt, a funeral director in the state and the author of a book on saving money on funeral costs, told WND he noticed a year ago that the fund set up under the license granted by Burris had reported a $40 million loss – $59 million at the most recent reporting.
“One of the complaints that have been made against the IFDA is that excessive
“Quite frankly, the money should go for the living,” says Mr. Burkhardt.
Your Funeral Guy was Quoted in National Post
“Why should you put $15,000 in the ground for a funeral when the money can go to your
R.Brian Burkhardt Rest in Peace Book mentioned in National Post of Canada
grandkid’s education or to a relative?”
“If you take away all the emotion from the situation, it is a contract negotiation. Funeral directors will negotiate with you for a lower cost,” Mr. Burkhardt says. For example, he says, you can opt not to have the body embalmed.
ILLINOIS SENATOR ROLAND BURRIS AND IFDA CREDABILITY
Here are the media reports on the Illinois Funeral Director Association Preneed Ponzi Scheme. The lesson here is to be
The Associated Press has only done a Few stoties on The Illinois Funeral Directors Association Historic Funeral Scandal
very careful in prepaying a funeral. It may be best to avoid purchasing a preneed funeral all together. The Illinois Funeral Directors Association lost 59 Million dollars in their Funeral trust fund. Some of the money went for insurance policies for board members, loans and other perks.
Snippet: “Funeral home directors who are suing IFDA say the fund is worth about $300 million. But the secretary of state last week said the fund is worth $200 million from more than 44,000 contract purchasers.”
Bruce Rushton of the Springfield, Il, State Journal Register that has done most of the SJR reports. This reporter thas been nicknamed
All of the detailed Reporting on the IFDA preneed Trust Scandal, documents, politicos, people, facts figures has been the work of one Reporter Bruce Rushton. He is with the Springfield, Il Newspaper, the State Journal Register.
the Bob Woodward(Washington Post and Watergate Fame) of Springfield, IL.
Jane Bourke on 
tom gosse on 
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