Only days before he died, Senator Ted Kennedy sent a letter to Massachusettes legislatures urging them to change state law regarding how his seat would be filled when it became vacant:
BOSTON — For nearly half a century, Sen. Edward Kennedy has guarded his family’s political legacy. Stricken with cancer and as Congress takes up his signature issue, he is tending to his own.
Kennedy asked Massachusetts lawmakers to change state law to give Gov. Deval Patrick, a fellow Democrat and supporter of President Barack Obama, the ability to appoint an interim replacement to Kennedy’s seat should Kennedy be unable to continue serving.
Under state law, an election is required within 145-160 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. That would temporarily leave Massachusetts without a voice in the Senate – and Senate Democrats potentially one vote short on any health care overhaul legislation.
Kennedy said he supports the special election process, but wants to ensure the seat is filled during the course of the election.
“It is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election,” Kennedy said in a letter to Patrick.
Of course, that didn’t happen before Kennedy died and it now looks as though the seat could be vacant for months, a development which could have serious implications for the health care debate in Congress:
A long-term vacancy could have effects far beyond Kennedy’s home state of Massachusetts, since his death deprives Democrats of the 60-vote “supermajority” with which they can theoretically force laws through the Senate despite Republican objections.
Which is why, mere hours after Kennedy died, we’re already hearing about extra-legal maneuvering in the inner circles of Massachusetts state government:
BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick supports changing state law to allow him to appoint an interim successor to Sen. Edward Kennedy’s seat.
Unlike most states, a successor to a vacant U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts is chosen by special election five months after the opening, not appointed by the governor.
In a recent letter to lawmakers, Kennedy asked that the law be changed to allow the governor to appoint someone during the course of the election — provided that person pledges not to run for the seat.
In an interview Wednesday on WBUR-FM, Patrick called the proposal “entirely reasonable” and said he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.
The only problem is that it seems pretty clear from the text of the law in question that any revision to state election laws would only apply to Senatorial vacancies that occurred after it was enacted. If the powers-that-be and the Kennedy clan try to make this law retroactive, it would clearly be illegal and we could expect to see any number of challenges to any appointment that Patrick would make under a revised law.
The irony is that up until 2004, MA governors got to appoint replacments, but the all dem state legistlature was afraid that Romney would get to appoint a republican replacement for Kerry had he won the Presidential election, so they changed the law right before the election. The irony is, its the dems that created this system in one round of political gaming. Looks like they were the victoms of their own hackery in this round of gaming.
You’ll see challenges, but they will be, just like the New Jersey Dems’ replacement of Robert Toricelli after the deadline in the last gubernatorial election, summarily shot down. After all, one of the credos of politics is, “Rules are meant to be broken.”