Posted on 11/07/2002 10:50:06 PM PST by CoolCD
Hoping to gain seniority, U.S. Sen.-elect Norm Coleman said Thursday that he will ask interim Sen. Dean Barkley to step down early, which would allow Coleman to leapfrog two other Republican freshmen elected Tuesday.
"There are benefits for Minnesota if I'm sworn in before any others," Coleman said. "Even a day before. I'm going to talk to Dean about the transition. We'll work it out."
Although Barkley had said Wednesday that he planned to serve the entire two-month period between now and the start of the next Congress, he seemed amenable Thursday to giving Coleman a brief seniority bump.
"If it gives an advantage to the state and if it gives him a leg up, certainly I'll consider it," Barkley said in Washington, D.C., where he was meeting with Senate leaders. "I plan on talking to Norm."
But, he said, the decision remains with Gov. Jesse Ventura, who put him in the Senate to finish the term of the late Paul Wellstone. 'It's up to the governor," Barkley said. "I'd have to discuss it with him."
Ventura spokesman John Wodele called it "a reasonable request. If Senator Barkley is receptive to it, I don't see any reason not to bring it to the governor. He'd consider it." Ventura hasn't expressed an opinion about the subject, Wodele said.
The founder of Minnesota's Independence Party, Barkley is Ventura's political mentor. Angered that the Independence and Green candidates were excluded from Monday's lone debate between Coleman and Democrat Walter Mondale, Ventura appointed Barkley as that debate was beginning.
Both Barkley and Coleman, men who have long yearned to become senators, stressed that they are friends and that the transition will be amiable. "He called me at 3 a.m. [Wednesday] to congratulate me, but I had to tell him I could still lose," Coleman said.
Job preferences
Seniority is important because it is a key to determining Senate committee assignments. Under the rules of the Senate's Republican conference, previous service in the Senate, House of Representatives or in a governor's office gives a new senator additional seniority. Of the eight Republican freshmen who will take office in January, five have such an advantage.
Coleman said he has told soon-to-be Majority Leader Trent Lott that he would prefer to be assigned to committees responsible for agriculture, jobs and health care. "There's not a lot of leeway because of seniority," he said.
He added: "I'm just going to be happy to be there. I'm the luckiest man on the face of the Earth."
Still exhausted after his grueling campaign, Coleman said he was not ready to make any announcements about his Senate staff and knew only that he had to be in Washington by next Wednesday for an organizational meeting of the new Senate.
He said he expects to work smoothly with Democratic Sen. Mark Dayton and Democratic members of the state's House delegation. "It's one benefit of having been a Democrat," he said. "I look forward with working with members on both sides of the aisle."
Coleman said the three biggest contributors to his victory over Mondale were an ad recorded by his daughter Sarah, President Bush's appearance Sunday and his own hard work.
Describing his mood, he said it was a combination of "the rush, the joy, of winning, sadness about what we've gone through and the fatigue of getting no sleep for three days."
He made his comments during an impromptu news conference during a lunchtime handshaking session with scores of new constituents on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis.
At one point, he carried a copy of the New York Times, which had put him on the front page Thursday, a testimony to his sudden emergence as a national political celebrity. Another: All of the Sunday morning political talk shows want to book him for this week's shows.
-- Staff Writer Kevin Diaz contributed to this report.
-- Bob von Sternberg is at vonste@startribune.com.
Barkley would be resigning leaving the seat open (even for just 1 day) and Ventura appoints Coleman for the remaing term (even if just 1 day). Then Coleman begins his elected term at the same time as the other freshmen Senators. Perfectly legitimate way to get a jump start.
You wouldn't believe how important this is to the Independence party. Barring major shifts in politics, it also serves the Republican Party, because the Independence Party is pulling significantly more votes from the DFL than the Republicans.
That's not true. Barkley was appointed because both parties shut the Independence candidate (Jim Moore - who was polling below 5 percent) out of the final debate between Mondale and Coleman.
Jesse has always believed it was his participation in the debates that won him his own victory. He and his party make debate inclusion one of their top priorities. That's why he timed his naming of Barkley to take place during the debate, after previously saying he would not name the interim Senator until after the polls closed on election day.
Senators serve more than six years every time one gets re-elected.
MN law says Coleman takes the seat as soon as he is certified, not in two months.
It is MN law that gives Ventura the power to appoint anyone, but in this particular case that law removes the power from the Governor and makes the automatic appointment to the winner of a general election.
Coleman would be initially serving as an appointee, just like Barkley. He would be completing Wellstone's unexpired term, before starting his own.
I.e., no problem.
But they do not serve more than six years per term.
MN law says Coleman takes the seat as soon as he is certified, not in two months.
Federal statutes take precedent and limits the term to 6 years. By law his elected term won't start until the same day as the other freshmen. But as stated above, that would not prevent him from being appointed to fill an empty seat since it is a seperate term.
A term is by definition 6 years. It isn't possible for anyone to serve more per term. That is not the issue.
The new six year term starts in January. There is a current six year term still to be completed. Who will complete that term? MN law dictates that the winner of a general election for the seat will complete the remainder of the existing term, as well as the term for which the election was held.
It would be the same as if a governor waited to see who won before appointing the winner to the remaining term, but in this case MN law doesn't give the governor the option, it is automatic.
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