Sep 25 2009
Kirk to Replace Kennedy
Paul Kirk was sworn into the U.S. Senate Friday. He’ll replace his friend and former employer, the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick appointed Kirk yesterday after invoking emergency powers. Rather than wait 90 days for the recently-changed law regarding appointments to take effect, Patrick made the controversial move to name Kirk immediately.
State Republicans are angry because the Democratic legislative majority reversed the law it passed in 2004. In a nutshell, Democrats wanted to ensure then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, couldn’t fill a Senate vacancy but now that a Democrat is in charge, the party doesn’t want to wait for a special election.
There will be a special election in January. Kirk, age 71, won’t be a candidate. He’ll serve about 130 days. He’ll then have lifetime access to the Senate floor. That’s great for Kirk, who’s been a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry.
Liberals aren’t happy either. They wanted former Gov. Michael Dukakis to be appointed. Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic Party nominee for president, isn’t closely aligned to the Kennedy family. There is concern the late senator, his family and President Obama had too much influence on Patrick to appoint Kirk at the expense of state voters.
Now that Kirk has been sworn, the Democrats have 60 working votes again (counting two independents). They’ll be able to invoke cloture and break Republican filibusters. In particular, they’ll be able to pass a health-care bill without GOP votes should they choose to do so.
