Did Lynch Pull A Blago?
John at Crooks and Liars asks if Judd Gregg didn’t play the Blago game. Was a deal made with New Hampshire Governor John Lynch, a Democrat, that a Republican fill his seat? Gregg’s former chief of staff, J. Bonnie Newman, gets the gig, although she says she’ll step down in 2010.
Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin applauds the Gregg appointment, but says:
“But the apparent behind-the-scenes deal-making that went on to determine who will fill Senator Gregg’s vacancy is alarmingly undemocratic. Once again, Americans will be represented in the Senate for nearly two years by someone they had no hand in electing. As the number of Senators appointed to their seats continues to rise, it’s increasingly clear that we need to fix this constitutional anachronism. It is time to pass a constitutional amendment to end appointments by governors and the political gamesmanship they encourage.”
To be honest, I do not think that this constitutes much of a problem. It is a bit cheesy how it is happening, but it seems to be a lot more logical to replace somebody by appointment then having a completely new election, especially when the position is in the latter half of the term.
What could be more valuable would be a collective emphasis on our population to reject people as a whole who abandon one job to run for another. It is fairly common in politics for people to “move up” without finishing their term. President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton, and others have done this. Not that this is a Democrat thing, of course; Senator McCain and Governor Palin were both in the middle of their terms as well. And, I suppose, there would be more far-reaching matters to deal with, so maybe it would not be that useful at all. But I do not think the problem as posited in the original post here is really a to do.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
YES.
February 4th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Are you really equating a senator asking for assurance that his across the aisle governor will not appoint a senator that would tip the power pendulum even further in his opposite direction (which is the governors constitutional responsibility) with selling a senate seat for personal gain? Wow
February 5th, 2009 at 2:24 am