On September 22nd, 2009, The Washington Post ran an article entitled "Massachusetts Senate Votes to Fill Kennedy Seat." The article explains that a week after the Massachusetts House voted to allow the governor to fill the position left vacant when Teddy Kennedy died, the Senate voted the same way.
But why did the Massachusetts legislature have to vote to give the governor this power? Just five years ago, the governor possessed the power. Indeed typically, a state governor does appoint a new senator when a vacancy becomes available.
If you recall, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry ran against George W. Bush for the presidency in 2004. At that time the Democratic controlled legislature realized that if Senator Kerry won the presidency, a Republican governor would get to appoint his successor. They didn't want this to happen. So, they rushed through legislation requiring a general election to fill the vacancy. Now that both the governor and legislature are Democratic, the state's political leaders don't want to wait for a general election. It's politically safe to allow the governor to appoint a successor.
President Obama is likely thrilled that policymakers in Massachusetts have acted in this way. After all, a vote will soon be coming on the President's healthcare initiative. One additional Democratic senator will ensure that Republicans cannot prevent the legislation from coming to the floor through a filibuster. Without this additional vote, a single Senator could prevent the legislation from coming to the floor by simply refusing to stop speaking. Occasionally senators have read from phone books in order to fill up time, preventing important legislation from coming up for votes.
Senator Kennedy knew the importance of his seat and he recognized that if he died before the healthcare legislation was adopted, Republicans could use the empty seat to prevent a vote. Therefore, his last political wish was for the Massachusetts legislature to grant the governor the power to appoint a successor.
Andrew Pass blogs athttp://www.lessontech.blogspot.com His main web address is http://www.pass-ed.com |  |
