Massachusetts To Have A New Senator Next Week?
State policymakers were reluctant to act, until Kennedy’s passing made the matter extremely relevant, not only to the state, but to national affairs. Yesterday, the Massachusetts state House took a step towards remedying the problem.
House lawmakers approved legislation last night that gives Governor Deval Patrick the power to appoint a temporary successor to the late Edward M. Kennedy in the US Senate, putting Massachusetts on track to have a new senator in place by next week.
The passage of the bill, by a 95-to-58 vote, was a crucial step toward filling the seat left vacant by Kennedy’s death last month and could carry major implications as Congress debates an overhaul of the nation’s health care system.
Attention now shifts to the Massachusetts state Senate, where there is a strong Democratic majority, but where Republicans hope to use parliamentary maneuvers to delay the process. The Boston Globe reported that the GOP minority “would probably exhaust their options for stalling by the middle of next week,” at which point the chamber could approve the bill.
If all goes according to plan, a bill may be on Deval Patrick’s desk as early as Wednesday, and an interim senator could be named almost immediately.
One of the people being considered for the appointment is former Governor Mike Dukakis. This means, at least theoretically, that Democrats could jettison Senator Snowe. I doubt they will, but a 60-vote majority changes the dynamics a lot. I think this puts a lot of pressure on both Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, because a new poll shows that the public option is popular in Maine:
QUESTION: Do you favor or oppose creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans?
FAVOR OPPOSE NOT SURE
ALL 58 29 13
MEN 54 34 12
WOMEN 62 24 14
DEMOCRATS 81 16 3
REPUBLICANS 18 58 24
INDEPENDENTS 67 20 13
18-29 64 23 13
30-44 60 27 13
45-59 56 32 12
60+ 52 35 13
DISRICT 1 62 26 12
DISTRICT 2 54 32 14
Extra bonus goodie from poll: only 28% of Maine Republicans are birthers.
Tags: MA-Sen, Ted Kennedy
Rules (and Laws) are for the little people.
How sad that they feel they need to stifle the will of the voters in order to secure their own agenda and power.
Wrong Brian and RICO, Rasumussen polled this and Massachusetts voters favor the change 52% to 40% oppose.
Plus, the will of the voters will still prevail. The interim appointment is only until the special election can be held.
Eventually, yes. The fact still remains that the reasons they say the NEED to change the law is to skirt the possibility of an election muddying up their power and agenda. The poll that matters is an election. Rasumussen doesn’t replace an election.
So the window is shorter, in the meantime, they need a puppet placeholder to cast votes their way, skirting the will of the people. It is not right. What is so important that it cannot wait two months for a special election?
I think the days are long gone when any state should be without representation for months at a time. Their local offices handle huge case loads, and it isn’t fair to we the people to have all that work undone and waiting, no matter which party is running the office.
I don’t see how this is thwarting the will of the people when the people support this change. Or perhaps we should call it an upgrade. I think it’s much better than Delaware’s law, which has no special election at all.
I think this is a pretty good solution, IMO. The voters get to direct elect their next senator and the seat is not unfilled in the meantime. As PM points out, elected officials also provide constituent services.
Besides, there is still a Special Election set for sometime this winter. This appointment is temporary to continue MA representation until then.
“Wrong Brian and RICO, Rasumussen polled this and Massachusetts voters favor the change 52% to 40% oppose.”
How did they feel when this law was changed the first time!? This is Teddy’s final act of hypocrisy! Even from the grave his hypocrisy shocks me…and no one on the left has any problem with it.
Massachusetts overwhelmingly supports direct election of a senator in case of a vacancy.
That’s from the Rasmussen poll above.
It’s only hypocrisy if Kennedy was opposed to other states appointing interim senators until a special election can be held. If he did so, I’m certainly not aware of it. So, Kennedy was not a hypocrite for suggesting this law.
The laws of the state of Massachusetts are up to the legislators of Massachusetts. They look to be following the will of the people, as far as I’m concerned. If Massachusetts Republicans think that this will help them win elections, they are certainly free to go for it. The people of Massachusetts will elect new legislators if they don’t like the law changed.
I know three MA voters who are taking names for the next election because of this, and are offended their representation is being limited because of party power politics during a health care struggle.
It absolutely baffles me how anyone can say with a straight face that this somehow thwarts or skirts the will of the people. The voters of MA didn’t vote to have a vacant seat, they voted to have a voting, Democratic, Liberal, health care-wanting Senator. That is what they will get. If, by some miracle they have done an about face on their principles, they’ll get a chance to elect a Republican, insurance company-loving Senator in January (I believe). I wouldn’t hold my breath for that one.
The only way your representation gets limited is if the seat stays vacant until the Special Election. And I suspect people in MA are interested in being at the table for more than just the health care discussion. Why should they not be represented for the 4 -6 months that it takes to get to the Special Election?