Posted on 02/05/2010 2:19:48 PM PST by paltz
If there was any clue that the Democrats wanted one last opportunity to pump their last hours of super majority muscle, it happened on Thursday, immediately before Sen.-elect Scott Brown, a Massachusetts Republican, was finally sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden at 5 PM. While the GOP grew antsier over when Mr. Brown would be seated in the Senate, Democrats managed to squeeze in one last vote for labor nominee Patricia Smith just hours before Mr. Brown became an official U.S. senator. Senate Democrats confirmed Ms. Smith to the Solicitor of Labor on a party-line vote 60 to 37.
Ms. Smith's May 2009 testimony to the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee caused GOP Sen. Mike Enzi from Wyoming to ultimately request documents from New York State under its Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) concerning the Wage and Hour Watch Program that Ms. Smith was asked about.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Solicitor of Labor. Sounds like a prostitution job.
Would some legal eagle explain to me how these votes are remotely Constitutional?
What does Barney Fwank have to say about that?
Na, she gave that up years ago.
Well, the fact of the matter is the Constitution gives wide birth to both Houses of Congress with respect to how they actually go about the business of creating legislation, to include the voting process. The Founders left it up to the sausage makers to determine how the sausage is made. As one might expect, it's an ugly process.
Appears that they had the 60 votes even if Brown were to have been sworn in earlier.
This delaying of Brown’s ceremony was not playing well here in Massachusetts.
The Boston Herald had a story today about Patrick Kennedy’s polling numbers in (link below) RI. Fifty six per cent unfavorable in his District, 65% unfavorable in the entire state.
That and the Drudge post about Kennedy’s stupid comments are just more fuel for this bon fire.
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20100205kennedys_shaken_as_gop_eyes_ri_too/
“I hate those guys!”
Even in the most strict interpretation of Massachusetts law, the moment the Governor and Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts signed the papers certifying the election, Paul Kirk was no longer a US Senator. His term did not end when Brown was sworn in, it ended when Brown was “duly elected” and “qualified” under the terms of the law that the Democrats themselves rammed through.
Gov. Patrick signed the certification papers around 10:00am on February 4, and that is when Kirk’s term ended.
Senate Democrats confirmed Ms. Smith to the Solicitor of Labor on a party-line vote 60 to 37.
It would not have matter one whit whether Brown had been sworn in before and voted in the Smith confirmation vote. All that was required at this juncture was a majority vote. The cloture vote requiring 60 votes occurred on Monday, Feb. 1.
These are some evil people!
This one I don’t understand. While Brown certainly isn’t Senator until the Senate decides to seat him, they have no right to allow a person to sit who is constitutionally prohibited. And the constitution clearly states that an appointed senator is no longer eligible once a new senator is elected, as determined by state law. And state law said Brown was officially elected when the Governor signed the paperwork sometime Thursday morning.
So Kirk was no longer a senator.
And an objection to the parlamentarian would have certainly led to such a ruling.
But apparently, no republican made such a motion.
Which leads me to believe the republicans did not want to stop this nomination.
But the vote still shouldn’t have been recorded. It’s very sleazy.
Still, thank you for reminding us about the cloture vote, which was also pretty sleazy.
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