As expected, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced during a press conference Thursday morning that he's chosen Paul Kirk to fill the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's seat on an interim basis. Kirk will serve until after a special election is held early next year; both he and the governor said at the press conference that he will not be a candidate.
Kirk is a former chair of the Democratic National Committee and a one-time aide to Kennedy; he remains close enough to the family that he's the current head of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. The late senator's widow and sons had put their weight behind Kirk for the appointment.
At the press conference, Kirk acknowledged the Kennedy family's support, and signaled that he'd validate their trust in him by working "to be a voice and a vote for [Kennedy's] causes and his constituents." He also said he hoped to retain the late senator's staff.
Primary among the causes Kirk and his friend's family have in mind, of course, is healthcare reform, an issue that was close to Kennedy's heart. Kirk could provide a crucial vote, and it was for that reason that the Massachusetts legislature voted to change the law to allow Patrick to make the appointment. It was also for that reason that Patrick sent a letter to the secretary of state that allows the law to take effect immediately.
Kirk is expected to be sworn in to office on Friday.
If Fox News' Major Garrett is right, then we already know the identity of the newest senator from Massachusetts, who'll be replacing the late Sen. Ted Kennedy until a special election is held early next year. That's if he's right, of course, and so far the office of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who's charged with making the choice, isn't saying -- for now, in fact, they're saying no final decision has been made.
The man Garrett says will get the nod from Patrick is Paul Kirk, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee who was a close friend and aide to Kennedy -- he worked for him for years, chairs the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and was the master of ceremonies at one memorial service for the senator. Kirk has gotten the endorsement of Kennedy family members, including the senator's widow, Victoria, and his two sons.
Even if Patrick has settled on Kirk, there are still some issues left to be resolved. The biggest is a legal one: Laws passed by the Massachusetts Legislature don't take effect for 90 days. That can be circumvented with an addition to a bill, an "emergency preamble," but the state House voted the addition down on Wednesday. There's one out left, though -- Patrick himself can sign a letter declaring an emergency, which would make the law effective immediately.
That, too, might be easier said than done, however. Patrick's up for re-election next year, and he's lost quite a bit of luster recently. It would have been one thing if the state Legislature had given him the power to make the appointment immediately, as there would have been hundreds of votes to give him political cover. If he signs the letter, though, he's all but on his own. There are still plenty of votes out there to give him cover -- the emergency preamble requires a two-thirds vote, and didn't pass only for that reason -- but they mean a whole lot less without the official approval of the Legislature as a whole.
Given that issue, if Patrick does sign the letter and make the appointment immediately, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks with Kirk. The man is qualified, and respected, sure. But there've been a whole lot of issues with governors making Senate appointments recently, and in this case support from the Kennedys could actually be a point against Kirk -- if Patrick's nervous about making a choice that looks dynastic, or like he's putting a Kennedy puppet in, he could look elsewhere. Former Gov. Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988, is the other possibility who's getting the most buzz.
If Fox News' Major Garrett is right, then we already know the identity of the newest senator from Massachusetts, who'll be replacing the late Sen. Ted Kennedy until a special election is held early next year. That's if he's right, of course, and so far the office of Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who's charged with making the choice, isn't saying -- for now, in fact, they're saying no final decision has been made.
The man Garrett says will get the nod from Patrick is Paul Kirk, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee who was a close friend and aide to Kennedy -- he worked for him for years, chairs the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and was the master of ceremonies at one memorial service for the senator. Kirk has gotten the endorsement of Kennedy family members, including the senator's widow, Victoria, and his two sons.
Even if Patrick has settled on Kirk, there are still some issues left to be resolved. The biggest is a legal one: Laws passed by the Massachusetts Legislature don't take effect for 90 days. That can be circumvented with an addition to a bill, an "emergency preamble," but the state House voted the addition down on Wednesday. There's one out left, though -- Patrick himself can sign a letter declaring an emergency, which would make the law effective immediately.
That, too, might be easier said than done, however. Patrick's up for re-election next year, and he's lost quite a bit of luster recently. It would have been one thing if the state Legislature had given him the power to make the appointment immediately, as there would have been hundreds of votes to give him political cover. If he signs the letter, though, he's all but on his own. There are still plenty of votes out there to give him cover -- the emergency preamble requires a two-thirds vote, and didn't pass only for that reason -- but they mean a whole lot less without the official approval of the Legislature as a whole.
Given that issue, if Patrick does sign the letter and make the appointment immediately, it'll be interesting to see if he sticks with Kirk. The man is qualified, and respected, sure. But there've been a whole lot of issues with governors making Senate appointments recently, and in this case support from the Kennedys could actually be a point against Kirk -- if Patrick's nervous about making a choice that looks dynastic, or like he's putting a Kennedy puppet in, he could look elsewhere. Former Gov. Michael Dukakis, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988, is the other possibility who's getting the most buzz.
The Massachusetts Senate has approved a bill that would allow Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint a temporary successor to the late Sen. Ted Kenendy. The legislation was already approved by the House; after another procedural vote in both chambers, Patrick is expected to sign it and move quickly to name a new senator.
Whoever Patrick picks won't be in office for long -- a special election will be held early next year, and the winner will replace the interim senator. But whoever Patrick picks will likely have a big role to play in healthcare reform, which was Kennedy's primary focus towards the end of his life and is the reason for the speed with which the majority Democrat state legislature has moved.
The change overturns a law made not long ago, when the governor of Massachusetts was Republican Mitt Romney. At the time, legislators were concerned that if Sen. John Kerry won the presidency, Romney would get to name his replacement. But with Patrick, a Democrat, in office, and with Kennedy's death depriving Senate Democrats of a potentially pivotal 60th vote, there was a push -- led, before his death, by the late senator himself -- to rewrite the law again.
Massachusetts could be back to having two senators very soon. Last week, the state House passed a bill that would allow Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, to appoint an interim successor to the late Sen. Ted Kennedy until a special election is held early next year. Now, the state Senate is ready to take up the legislation.
Republicans, who are a small minority in the Massachusetts Senate, had been using a delaying tactic to keep the bill from coming to the floor for a debate. Now, though, they seem ready to concede.
“I don’t know that there’s a lot to be gained by continuing to delay just to delay it. That’s not what we’re about. We’re trying to give people time to weigh in. We got the weekend out of it," Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei said, according to the Boston Globe.
The delaying tactic the GOP has been using is traditionally only allowed three times; Republicans have used it twice. But, the Globe reports, they probably won't bother to try it again on Tuesday. Instead, they'll allow debate. From there, it probably won't be long until a vote, and then Patrick will move quickly to appoint a new senator.
WASHINGTON -- The administration still hasn't said when it plans to end the Clinton-era "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, a policy that has forced more than 12,500 people out of service since 1993. The arguments against the ban are pretty plain: it may be hurting the military's readiness; it's forced key translators to leave the military; it's unfair; it's not even supported by the public.
But now thanks to Ted Kennedy's new memoir, published today and excerpted in Politico, one of the strangest arguments in favor of the ban has come to light. In the book, Kennedy relates the tale of an Oval Office meeting early in the Clinton administration with all the Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Kennedy writes:
The last senator to speak was Robert Byrd, and he came up with a new one on all of us... He informed us, with many ornate flourishes, that there had been a terrible problem in ancient Rome with young military boys turned into sex slaves. I don't remember the exact details, but I think the story involved Tiberius Julius Caesar being captured and abused and used as a sex slave. He escaped and then years later he sought vengeance and killed his captors.
Clinton, Kennedy said, replied that the Ten Commandments don't mention homosexuality at all, but in the end, Congress wound up opposing his proposal to allow gays and lesbians to serve, leading to the "don't ask, don't tell" plan -- which started out as a compromise. Needless to say, no one seems likely to use that particular Rome-related argument if President Obama decides to lift the ban. But it certainly helps underscore the bizarre logic behind a policy that even Colin Powell, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time it was put in place, now thinks should be revisited. The Senate will hold hearings on the policy this fall.
As I said Wednesday night, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Republicans would hit President Obama for bringing up the late Sen. Ted Kennedy during his address to Congress. But as I also said, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst made it harder for the GOP to get that line of attack to stick -- Republicans are already on the defense about being crass, and so they don't have a lot of room to maneuver.
If the GOP's congressional leadership could have picked anyone to criticize Obama for his citation of Kennedy, though, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele would probably the last person on the list.
Steele came out with that criticism in an interview with the Washington Times on Thursday. He managed not to stick his foot in his mouth too badly (something of an accomplishment for him), but still, the attack floundered -- it felt forced, like even Steele wasn't convinced.
"I'm sorry, but I just felt a bit unnerved by it, in the sense he just passed," the RNC chair said of Obama's mention of Kennedy and the letter the late senator had sent the president earlier this year. "His wife was still clearly emotional. I just thought that was bad form. We all understand and appreciate the role Sen. Kennedy has played in this debate and the passion he brought to health care. I just thought that was a little bit much for me, so soon after his death, using that as a political tool."
(Hat-tip to Steve Benen.)
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