Not long ago, I wrote that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was a Banana Republic for the way the Democratic-controlled legislature changed the way open Senate seats were filled--only five years after having changed it. Seems in the first place, a Republican Governor (Mitt Romney) was denied the opportunity to replace John Kerry had he won the 2004 election--as the legislature required that there be a special election to fill the seat. As was detailed in the link, the now Democratic Governor was given BACK the power to appoint someone to fill the seat in order to ensure a reliable Dem vote for health care.
But then, politics got in the way. You see, there is a special election in the Bay State on the 19th of January, and it just may come to pass that Republican Scott Brown could take the seat. And were he certified and seated expeditiously, he would be the 41st vote to filibuster healthcare, and it would be stymied. Can't let that happen to Saint Edward of Kennedy's signature issue, can we? So now it seems that the certification process--which took 2 days for a special House election in 2007 (that just happened to provide a reliable Dem vote to override GWB's veto of S-CHIP), might take at least a month.
Democracy at its best, no?
Sunday, January 10, 2010
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4 comments:
And don't doubt for 1 minute who may have called Governor Patrick to tell him in no uncertain terms to make sure nothing little like the citizenry electing Brown (precisely because he IS the only way they can vote to stop this madness) get in the way of his ability to announce his health care victory at the State of the Union.
We covered this (at least I did) on a freaky Friday. Now they vote, now they don't.
That's why Mass. sucks the Big Kahuna, and always will.
It would appear the President shares your desire to fill the seat expeditiously. In a recent solicitation letter:
"You've worked so hard to organize around these and so many other critical issues. And now we're so close to passing health reform — finally realizing Senator Kennedy's life's work. But we cannot get the job done without Martha Coakley in the Senate. And that means it may well all come down to you. I'm asking you to pledge a few hours or as much time as you can spare in this last critical week to volunteer at an event near you to help Martha win."
So I'm assuming that if Coakley wins, he'll wait the extra month or so for her election to be certified. Because, you know, they can't get the job done without Coakley in the Senate...
Uh huh.
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