Posted on 09/23/2009 1:34:34 PM PDT by jazusamo
There might not be a temporary replacement for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) in the coming days after all.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) was expected to have the power to appoint a 60th Democratic senator this week, but the bill to give him that power hit a snag Wednesday, according to The Associated Press, and the situation could be headed for court.
Though the state Senate on Tuesday joined the state House in signing off on the appointment powers, the timing the of the appointment is at issue.
Without an emergency declaration, Patrick could not make the appointment for 90 days, or about a month before a full-time successor is elected. The bill would need a two-thirds majority in both chambers to bypass that waiting period, and it isn’t getting the votes.
Democrats attempted to reach the two-thirds vote in the state House on Wednesday, but fell short, 95-59.
Beyond that, Patrick himself could declare an emergency, but Republicans are reportedly threatening to challenge him in court if he does so — a move that could further delay the appointment.
The GOP already blocked the bill procedurally last week and has been united in opposition. Republicans say the move is purely partisan and note that Democrats stripped the governor of appointment powers in 2004, when Republican Mitt Romney held the office.
Hoisted on your own petard.
The dems will probably appeal to the New Jersey Supreme court. They will take the case, appoint a senator, and deem them Senator for life!
Republicans say the move is purely partisan and note that Democrats stripped the governor of appointment powers in 2004, when Republican Mitt Romney held the office.And Patrick is another Adolf Axelrod Boy from Brazil.
Fuerher Thwarted--Send In Rahm Heydrich
Man, it’s been a great couple of weeks. I hope we can keep up the pounding.
Great news! Killing HC legislation is the number one perogative right now, and this doesent hurt!
I hope Dukakis didn’t buy his bus pass yet.
Good one! :-)
Amen! The Dems have taken a beating, now to kill obamacare.
Deval seems intent on returning us to the days of “NOT making it in Massachusetts”.
No. The Dems will pass it as an emergency, Patrick will appoint someone even worse than Kennedy, and THEN it will go to court, to be made moot in January.
Has anyone heard who is looking good for the election? Everyone is talking about these idiots changing the law, but what about the election in January? I agree that this needs to be stopped, but what is the end result. Please advise if you have any input.
I have no clue. If Patrick appoints a replacement can Repubs file the suit and get an injunction to stay the replacement unit the court hears the case?
About time !
OUTSTANDING!
Would it be wrong to hope that this effort rolls off a bridge?
They can try, but each house of congress judges the qualifications of its own members. If the Senate voted the seat the appointee, the injunction would be moot.
Thanks, that sounds right to me. I wasn’t aware of how this situation would be handled by the Senate when the legality of the appointment was in question.
Howie Carr is discussing this right now. (Listen Live at www.wrko.com.)
“Republicans are reportedly threatening to challenge him in court.” Not quite. The legislators that Howie’s been talking to aren’t lawyers and are asking for lawyers to call in. The Pubbies are just doing some legal research now, and are writing a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick tonight, asking him to take it to the MA Supreme Court.
Deval didn’t get the emergency preamble he wanted, so he’s going to go to the MA Secretary of State to plead emergency status.
Some bits from the local media:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/09/victoria_kenned_2.html
The interim appointee proposal was enacted this afternoon by the House, 95-59, and by the Senate, 24-16, after only brief speeches by lawmakers. Lawmakers did not pass, however, an emergency preamble to the law, meaning that the governor will have to send a letter to the secretary of state requesting early implementation of the law.
“We did everything we could and there’s no need to delay for the sake of delay at this point,” Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei told reporters after the Senate vote. “The vote’s been cast, and I hope the governor picks somebody who can represent the state well for the next couple of months.”
Beacon Hill lawmakers enacted legislation today allowing Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint an interim senator - but without a two-thirds majority - meaning Patrick will have to rely on a rarely used measure allowing him to declare the law an emergency
Thanks much for the info. Sounds like the Gov taking it to the Secretary of State to plead emergency status is their way around it if the SoS goes along and I’d guess he will.
I really hope the Republicans have the balls to push this to the max. Any action they take to prolong it and make it more difficult for the democrats will only result in this whole sordid hypocritical episode becoming more well known among people who don’t typically know which end is up. And that would be a good thing.
Agreed. With _resident jOker, EVERYTHING is a crisis. EVERYTHING is an emergency.
Except Afghanistan or anything related to National Security. Don't want to offend the Muslims by defending ourselves.
Patrick will declare a state emergency because 'thousands of citizens are losing their health care with each passing day.'
Perhaps dems will start being for ‘TERM LIMITS’ now that their filibuster proof Senate is being destroyed by old foggies who are too sick or old to show up to vote !!!
The ‘rats are like the unions - they expect jobs for life! Term limits is the way to go and no health insurance supplied as a perk! They should be considered part time jobs. If Sarah decides to run - I could see her stripping alot of those perks away and they ALL know it - on both sides of the aisle.
No, but it would be racist.
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