Posted on 09/25/2009 1:57:06 PM PDT by STARWISE
Former Democratic Party chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr. has taken over for the late Edward Kennedy in the Senate.
Vice President Joe Biden swore in Kirk on Friday hours after a Massachusetts judge rejected a Republican request to delay it.
The GOP had argued that Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick exceeded his constitutional authority by appointing Kirk before a traditional 90-day legislative waiting period had expired. State lawmakers passed a bill this week giving Patrick the power to choose an interim senator.
Kirk gives Senate Democrats a filibuster-proof, 60-vote majority with the health care fight at a critical point.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Looks like the state is run by the Democrat Mafia.
It’s official. America is now a third world banana republic.
“Who’ve they got waiting on the Byrd watch?”
I think they were just planning to let Rockefeller vote twice.
This is how a ‘one Party’ state operates. They are trying to run the country like a ‘one Party’ country.
If America doesn’t wake up soon, they will wake up to find themselves like the Chinese and Cubans.
Court denies GOP bid to block Paul Kirk
Tags:
By MICHAEL FALCONE | 9/25/09 4:27 PM EDT
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A Massachusetts judge on Friday rejected a Republican effort to block Senate appointee Paul Kirk from taking office.
Judge Thomas Connolly of Suffolk County Superior Court denied a motion filed by the Massachusetts Republican Party seeking an injunction against Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick, who they said overstepped his constitutional authority by using an emergency declaration to pave the way for Kirk’s appointment.
Since most Massachusetts laws do not go into effect for 90 days, Patrick had to issue the declaration so that legislation allowing him to name a replacement senator—which won final approval Wednesday—could take effect immediately.
Republicans filed their motion Thursday, the same day that Patrick chose Kirk to temporarily replace the late Sen. Ted Kennedy. Kirk, a long-time Kennedy friend and associate, is scheduled to be sworn into office in Washington Friday afternoon.
At issue in the case was a letter Patrick sent to Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin Thursday morning declaring the new legislation an emergency law.
“So that the people of the Commonwealth may have full representation in the United States Senate without delay,” the governor wrote, “I declare that it is in the public interest and convenience that this Act take effect immediately.”
Kirk, 71, will serve in office only until the Jan. 19 special election to replace Kennedy, but his appointment was a win for Democrats who have been seeking a 60-vote Senate majority as lawmakers debate health care reform and other issues this fall.
For weeks, Republican state legislators have voiced their opposition to giving Patrick the authority to make the interim appointment and GOP lawmakers used parliamentary delaying tactics to try to stall the bill. Republicans charged that the change to the state’s succession law was a hypocritical exercise since Democrats had designed the current succession law in 2004 to prevent then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, from appointing a senator.
On Friday, Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman John Walsh called the GOP attempt to block the appointment “shameful.”
“It is a serious disservice to the people of our state for the Massachusetts Republican Party to try and block today’s swearing-in of Paul Kirk to the United States Senate,” he said in a statement. “Massachusetts needs two strong voices in the Senate today to help us create jobs, protect our health care coverage and work with constituents who need help; that work cannot wait until next month or next year.”
In a statement following the judge’s ruling, the state’s GOP chairwoman, Jennifer Nassour, said the successful Democratic-led push to change the state’s election law was a “purely partisan” move and suggested that lawmakers would be held accountable.
“I urge the voters of Massachusetts to not allow the courts the final say in this matter,” Nassour said. “I believe the ultimate remedy to the untenable situation on Beacon Hill can be found in the voting booths.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27590.html#ixzz0S9hv6Luj
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Democrats = party of perfectionists in the perpetual practice of smarmy politics.
So, what do the one or two republicans living in mASSachusetts think?
mm-mmm-mmmmm
SELECTED NOT ELECTED...
Lot of Dems we can say that about.
They live in New Hampshire and commute....
I think they were just planning to let Rockefeller vote twice.
Well the current Governor is a democrat, Joe Manchin, he is relatively conservative on some issues such as gun control (A rating from the NRA). So the best bet, in my opinion, would be if he appointed himself. Other names mentioned, the 2 kook lib congressmen Rahall and Mullohan, the former governor Bob Wise that got caught banging his secretary and the ambiguously gay former governor Gaston Caperton.
“So that the people of the Commonwealth may have full representation in the United States Senate without delay..”
HOW LONG was it that Kennedy was so sick he couldn’t do anything in the Senate? He was last seen in DC in April?
But now that he’s taking his dirt nap, he has to be replaced immediately? If this is MAs idea of an emergency (which it isn’t) they deserve exactly what they’ve got.
But, after all, it WAS Teddy's seat, so his estate should get to claim its rights to pick his successor.
It's in keeping with his divine rights as a knighted member of Her Majesty's court.(I'm sure George Washington would have been thrilled to be so honored.)
Ok, yes. I'm being sarcastic.
And what would the media have done if the GOP was doing this? The test for rather it’s right or not....
and to top it off, he looks like a character that Phil Hartman would have played on Saturday Night Live
“Biden swears in Kirk, successor to Sen. Kennedy”
Just what do they swear? Anyone know?
“Looks like the state is run by the Democrat Mafia.”
Not just the state.
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