White House Wants a Speedy Replacement for Kennedy
(December 28, 2008 - Photo by Handout/Getty Images North America)
In what can only be characterized as encroachment on the fundamentals of separation of powers, the White House has begun to put pressure on the State of Massachusetts to fill the seat left vacant by the now deceased Ted Kennedy. Senator Kennedy attempted to change state election laws before his passing to ensure that his seat would be filled as quickly as possible, but he was unsuccessful in accomplishing the feat. It appears that the White House has taken up his cause.
FOX NEWS had the following…
White House Lobbies for Interim Kennedy Seat Appointment
Major Garrett
The Obama White House has left the sidelines and jumped in with both feet as Massachusetts lawmakers debate whether to change current law and appoint an interim U.S. Senator to replace the deceased Edward M. Kennedy.
FOX News has learned Senior White House adviser David Axelrod called the president of the Massachusetts Senate on Monday to lobby for the law change to fill Kennedy’s Senate seat until the Jan. 19 special election is held.
Axelrod called Therese Murray to discuss the matter, Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton confirmed to FOX late Tuesday.
Burton said Axelrod was “checking in” with Murray, but Democratic sources say the call was designed to underscore White House interest in seeing Massachusetts law changed and an interim Senator appointed as crunch-time approaches in the health care debate.
In addition to his closeness to Obama, Axelrod also has deep ties to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick. The governor wants the Legislature to give him power to appoint Kennedy’s successor. Axelrod’s leverage may prove useful to Patrick in this regard.
The Obama White House wants and needs as many Democrats as it can get for health care. An interim appointment would raise its number of Democrats available on a daily basis to 59. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia is ill and rarely present for Senate debate and votes.
Two names continue to surface as Kennedy’s replacement: former Kennedy aide and former DNC Chairman Paul Kirk, and former Massachusetts Governor and 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
Kirk is still thought to have the inside track as a keeper of the Kennedy flame and party loyalist through-and-through. Even so, Dukakis has been lobbying lawmakers in the legislature for the opportunity – albeit it brief – to wrestle with one of the biggest domestic issues of the Obama presidency. The constituency for Kirk appears to include the vast majority of Kennedy family members as well as Washington-based Democrats. Dukakis’s constituency appears mostly of him and an assortment of aides and advisers in Massachusetts who worked on his gubernatorial or presidential campaign staff.
Senior Senate Democratic leaders have, so far, declined to publicly state a preference.
The Massachusetts House is due to vote on the interim-appointment bill on Thursday and the Senate, led by Murray, is expected to follow suit. No dates for Senate action have been firmly established.
Under our nation’s Constitution, each of our 50 states are allowed to choose their representatives in whatever method they deem appropriate. Similarly, when vacancies arise, they are also left with the power to determine who will fill the seat. The Obama White House appears to think this constitutional protection from an encroaching federal government was purely meant to be a formality. They have been publicly encouraging Massachusetts officials to fill the seat.
The move is nothing more than an attempt to make sure that Democrats have 60 votes when the healthcare debate finally moves to a vote. Without 60, Republicans can exercise the tactic of a filibuster and Dems would be forced to use the controversial and perhaps even unconstitutional practice of reconciliation.
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Push it through. Push it through!! Fill the seat and give us healthcare. Babies are dying!!
What a load of garbage. The White House has no place in this. I am from Massachusetts and will continue to tell anyone who will listen, they wont rest til a liberal takes that seat.
This is a crime and shoudlbe exposed as one. Where is the mainstream on this one?
It is getting exposure from the mainstream. Unfortunately its favorable coverage and it is coming from the White House. They have no fear anymore. They will take their lobbying straight to the people of Massachusetts and they will use the Popular Rule and the mainstream to facilitate it.
[...] for healthcare reform passage by the end of the year has nothing to do with this at all. Ha. David Axelrod has been all over the place trying to stir up this very action. I’m not sure which party is worse here: MA Dems or the White [...]