Sen. Kirk Must Step Down; Brown Election To Be Certified Thursday

Big Government ^ | Feb 3rd 2010 | SusanAnne Hiller

[opentalk]

In a previous post on Big Government, I questioned why Senator Paul Kirk has not stepped down as the Senator from Massachusetts, as he should have on January 19th. Today, the attorney for Senator-elect Scott Brown stated in a letter Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick that Brown wanted the results of the January 19 election certified by 11 a.m. Thursday, so they could be forwarded to U.S. Senate officials for immediate action.

Governor Patrick’s office also issued this statement via email today:

As the Lieutenant Governor stated earlier today, the Governor will convene the Governor’s Council at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning and certify the results. This will ensure that Senator-elect Brown’s request to receive the final paperwork by 11:00 a.m. tomorrow is fulfilled.

This stunning move by Brown and fulfillment by the governor’s office forces Kirk to resign his seat–presenting problems for the Democrats as they move forward with the current Senate schedule, which includes the controversial M. Patricia Smith nomination.

This reversal comes days after several inquiries with the Brown campaign, in addition to Senator Mitch McConnell’s office, as to why interim Senator Paul Kirk is still voting on legislation–providing the 60th vote in some cases–and preserving the Democrat supermajority in Congress.

I explained the Senate rules and customary application, including:

Many states limit the term of office for interim senators to the date set for the special election. In these cases, the term of the interim senator expires immediately upon the election of the popularly chosen successor, who serves the balance of the Senate term, whether it is a few weeks or several years.

Moreover, when an interim appointment is made late in the term, it is often customary for the interim senator to resign his or her seat immediately after the election,

[Gay State Conservative]

Don't let the door hit you on the a$$,you worthless Massachusetts hack!

[opentalk]

Additionally, on the House side, NY-23’s Bill Owens was sworn in almost immediately following his election even though the vote was not certified until December 15, 2009. In fact, even though Owens was sworn in on November 6, election officials were still counting the votes on November 20.

[pabianice]

50-50 Patrick won’t do the paperwork tomorrow.

[screaminsunshine]

Not before they sneak a Commie in to the NLRB.

[LibFreeOrDie]

Deval was supposed to do the paperwork today (Wednesday) at his Gov’s Council meeting.

[Ann Archy]

Deval is a devil.