It looks like lawmakers in Massachusetts have given the governor the power to appoint an interim replacement for the late Ted Kennedy’s US Senate seat after all. The Massachusetts House had earlier passed the bill allowing Governor Deval Patrick to name someone temporarily until the special election is held on January 19, 2010. At the same time, House democrats also tried to attach an emergency preamble that would allow the law to take effect immediately, instead of the normal 90 days after passage, but failed to get the necessary two-thirds majority, on a 95-59 vote. The Senate didn’t even consider the measure for the emergency enactment after it failed in the House. It would have required the same majority in both houses.
This action would normally prevent the governor from naming an interim replacement until late December, only four weeks before the special election, and it would not be sensible to have someone fill the seat for only one month, and then leave.
However, the governor still had another card to play.
Governor Patrick intends to rely on an obscure section of the state constitution to declare the legislation ‘an emergency or of an urgent nature’ by writing a letter to the Secretary of State, William Galvin, another democrat, declaring an emergency need for the bill and giving his reasons why it should be allowed to take effect immediately.
Not to be outdone, four GOP House members sent a letter to the governor asking him to seek an advisory opinion from the state Supreme Judicial Court to clarify his emergency declaration powers. Their request for the opinion is aimed at sparing the state ‘national embarrassment’ if the appointment is later found to have been made illegally.
While all this parliamentary maneuvering was taking place, the governor, still confident that his secretary of state would approve the emergency need for the law, today has named Paul Kirk as an interim US senator until the special election on January 19. Kirk is a longtime Kennedy friend and adviser, the current chairman of the Kennedy Library Foundation, former Chairman of the National Democratic Party 1985-1989, and former special assistant to Sen. Kennedy from 1969-1977.
Both Kennedy’s sons, Edward M. Kennedy, Jr., and Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., had written letters to the governor lobbying for Kirk, and Ted’s widow, Victoria, also strongly supported his appointment. Kirk also knows the late senator’s staff intimately and would likely be assured of their loyalty given his relationship with Kennedy. Sen. John Kerry, who attended the announcement, called Kirk a “superb steward for this seat” and said he already has a personal relationship with many of the people he will be working with during his brief time in Kennedy’s former office.
Still, the Massachusetts Republican Party urged Secretary of State William F. Galvin to reject Patrick’s request to make the legislation effective immediately, saying prior decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court showed the governor’s power applied only when a law is subject to a public referendum. The party asked Galvin to at least seek an advisory opinion from the court. He evidently denied their request.
Patrick had argued the state stood to suffer without full Senate representation before the special election campaign, but some fellow Democrats have joined Republicans in accusing him of a power grab.
“This is not an emergency,” said Rep. Paul Frost, R-Auburn. “So however the governor is going to write a letter to the secretary of state, saying the Legislature didn’t agree it was an emergency, but I do, I can’t wait to see it,” adding, “It’s just wrong.” Some political pundits in the state may now even suggest that it’s possible that Ted Kennedy would likely have hand-picked Paul Kirk, his close family friend and adviser, to the interim senate seat, if he could have.
Who can say for sure that he didn’t?
Still, the Dish Network Republican Party urged Secretary of State William F. Galvin to reject Patrick’s request to make the legislation effective immediately, saying prior decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court showed the governor’s power applied only when a law is subject to a public referendum. The party asked Galvin to at least seek an advisory opinion from the court. He evidently denied their request.
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