Back in 2004 John Kerry, the Junior Senator from Massachusetts, was the Presidential candidate for the Democratic party. If he were to be elected, Massachusetts law dictates that the governor would appoint someone to fill out the rest of Kerry's term. Back then the Governor was a Republican, Mitt Romney, who would have certainly filled the seat with a Republican. Senator Ted Kennedy did not want that to happen so he urged the state legislature to change the law.
The new law leaves the seat vacant empty until a special election is held. But Senator Kennedy, who is losing his battle with brain cancer thinks the state needs two senators in Washington during that period, so he’s asking that the Legislature to change the rules again, let the governor make an interim appointment to fill his post.
You notice how the Senator doesn't changes the rules to care for the People of his state, he just wants to keep changing the rules to help his party. One last hypocrisy for the people of Massachusetts to remember him by:‘‘I am now writing to you about an issue that concerns me deeply — the continuity of representation for Massachusetts should a Senate vacancy occur,’’ he says, adding: ‘‘As I look ahead, I am convinced that enabling the governor to fill a Senate vacancy through an interim appointment followed by a special election would best serve the people of our Commonwealth and country should a vacancy occur.’’ Left unsaid is that such an interim period may well include the debate over universal health care, a cause he has championed with his heart and soul for decades.
Republicans balk at Kennedy proposal to change succession law
By Matt Viser and Frank Phillips, Globe Staff
Massachusetts Republicans spoke out today against a proposal by US Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who is battling brain cancer, under which Kennedy's Senate seat would be filled by an appointment by Democratic Governor Deval Patrick until a special election could be held.
House Minority Leader Brad Jones of Reading said the proposal was based not on "what's best for the whole Commonwealth but based on what's best for one political party."
"The hypocrisy is astounding. If we had a Republican governor right now, would we be getting that same letter?" he said.
“Everybody feels for Senator Kennedy, but the laws shouldn’t be created to benefit particular individuals, it should be principled,” said Senate minority leader Richard Tisei of Wakefield.
In a personal, sometimes wistful letter sent Tuesday to Patrick, Democratic Senate President Therese Murray, and Democratic House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, Kennedy, the ailing liberal lion, asked the leaders to change the succession law to guarantee that Massachusetts will not lack a Senate vote when his seat becomes vacant, the Globe reported this morning.
Kennedy's poignant acknowledgment of his mortality comes at a critical time in the national health care debate. Although Kennedy does not specifically mention his cancer or the health care debate raging in Washington, the implication of his letter is clear: He is trying to make sure that the leading cause in his life, better health coverage for all, advances in the event of his death.
Top Democrats at the State House remained resolutely silent on the issue today. But one Democratic lawmaker said he was opposed.
“I’m not in favor of it,” said Representative Brian Wallace of South Boston. “I’ve got great respect for Senator Kennedy, but I think we’ve been down this road. I’m in favor of having an election, there’s nothing fairer than that. It just opens up a whole can of worms all again.”
“I don’t agree with it,” said state Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, who left the Democratic Party last month to lay the groundwork for a gubernatorial run as an independent. “A senator should be directly elected by the people."
In his letter, which was obtained by the Globe, Kennedy said that he backs the current succession law, enacted in 2004, which gives voters the power to fill a US Senate vacancy. But he said the state and country need two Massachusetts senators.
“I strongly support that law and the principle that the people should elect their senator,’’ Kennedy wrote. “I also believe 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.’’
Under the 2004 law, if Kennedy were to die or step down, voters would select his successor in a special election to be held within five months of the vacancy. But the law makes no provisions for Massachusetts to be represented in the Senate in the interim. In the meantime, President Obama’s plan to overhaul the nation’s health care system, the fate of which may hinge on one or two votes, could come before Congress.
“I am now writing to you about an issue that concerns me deeply, the continuity of representation for Massachusetts, should a vacancy occur,’’ Kennedy wrote.
To ensure that the special election is fair, the senator also urged that the governor obtain an “explicit personal commitment’’ from his appointee not to seek the office on a permanent basis.
Separately, a Kennedy family confidant, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the letter was private, said the senator’s wife, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, is not interested in being a temporary appointee or running in a special election.
“Her focus is her husband and her family,’’ the confidant said. “To her, there is only one Senator Kennedy.’’
DeLeo and Murray, in a joint statement to the Globe Wednesday, did not address the substance of Kennedy’s request, saying: “We have great respect for the senator and what he continues to do for our Commonwealth and our nation. It is our hope that he will continue to be a voice for the people of Massachusetts as long as he is able.’’
Patrick said in a statement: “It’s typical of Ted Kennedy to be thinking ahead and about the people of Massachusetts, when the rest of us are thinking about him. Diane and I continue to pray for the restoration of the senator’s health and the comfort of his family.’’
Kennedy advisers were adamant Wednesday that the timing of the letter did not reflect any imminent emergency in the health of the senator, who has been battling brain cancer since May 2008. Rather, it was sent this week after the Globe began making inquiries to key Beacon Hill officials over murmurings that some politicians were pushing for a change in the law.
Kennedy aides said the senator never liked the five-month vacancy created by the 2004 law, but his dislike took on new urgency because Senate Democrats could need every vote possible on health care legislation.
The family confidant stressed that even with his deteriorating health, Kennedy continues to speak with staff and Senate colleagues. If his vote were needed, there exists every possibility he would fly to Washington again to cast it, Kennedy allies said.
Still, Kennedy’s letter is a candid acknowledgment that his long Senate career might be coming to an end, a historic development for both Massachusetts and the nation. He is the last of three Kennedy brothers whose careers helped define postwar Democratic politics.
“For almost 47 years, I have had the privilege of representing the people of Massachusetts in the United States Senate,’’ Kennedy wrote in his letter.
Serving in the Senate, he wrote, “has been - and still is - the greatest honor of my public life.’’
Advisers, including Senator John F. Kerry, began discussions months ago about pushing for a change in the state law.
Kennedy’s letter was drafted in early July, when he was writing several other letters, including a private note to the pope that Obama hand-delivered. The letter to state officials was kept secret, not sent until this week.
Kerry said yesterday that Kennedy had been considering this issue since the early summer.
“It is something he talked to me about some time ago,’’ he said in an interview.
Kerry rejected any notion that the letter signaled an immediate end to Kennedy’s nearly half-century in office, insisting that his colleague has been active in shaping the health care legislation in recent weeks.
“I don’t think this signals anything,’’ Kerry said. “He has been fully engaged. . . . If [Senate majority leader] Harry Reid required 60 votes tomorrow, Ted Kennedy would be on a plane and be down in the Senate to vote.’’
Kerry added that he speaks with the senator regularly and visited him several weeks ago at Kennedy’s Hyannis Port home.
Kennedy’s request puts Massachusetts lawmakers in a delicate position. On one hand, his personal appeal would probably have some sway.
But resistance on Beacon Hill to tinkering with the 2004 law is strong, with Democratic lawmakers nervous about being accused of engineering a self-serving change to help their party.
Massachusetts governors used to have the power to fill Senate vacancies, as happens in many other states, until the Legislature made the change five years ago.
Democratic lawmakers, then as now in the majority, did not want to give Governor Mitt Romney the chance to fill Kerry’s seat with a Republican if Kerry won the presidency.
Patrick, meanwhile, has dismissed past suggestions that the state change the law back to give him the power to fill a Senate vacancy.
Those who would run for Kennedy’s seat could also pressure state lawmakers to resist changing the law, out of concern that toying with the special election could somehow damage their prospects.
In Washington, there are increasing concerns among Democrats and health care advocates over Kennedy’s absence from Capitol Hill. His voice has often been one of the loudest and most influential on health care.
The Democratic caucus’s 60-vote majority is already tenuous, with several moderate Democrats having expressed skepticism about the health care bill.
Kennedy’s having not attended the funeral of his sister, Eunice, last week heightened concerns that he would be unable to return to the Senate for a vote.
President Obama has not spoken to Kennedy about the proposal, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said today.
"He has not talked to Senator Kennedy about this. The last time they spoke was several weeks ago about health care. I have not had the chance to talk to him this morning about Senator Kennedy's letter."
Susan Milligan of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
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