Senator Ted Kennedy, who is gravely ill with brain cancer, has sent a letter to Massachusetts lawmakers requesting a change in the state law that determines how his Senate seat would be filled if it became vacant before his eighth full term ends in 2012. Current law mandates that a special election be held at least 145 days after the seat becomes available. Mr. Kennedy is concerned that such a delay could leave his fellow Democrats in the Senate one vote short of a filibuster-proof majority for months while a special election takes place.<\/p>\n
“I therefore am writing to urge you to work together to amend the law through the normal legislative process to provide for a temporary gubernatorial appointment until the special election occurs,” writes the Senator.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Democrats dominate the Massachusetts legislature so they could easily grant Sen. Kennedy’s wish… The only question is do they have the <\/span>chutzpa to be as transparently partisan as the state’s senior senator?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You have to admire the chutzpa of Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy… In 2004 when it seemed John Kerry would win the presidential election he urged the Massachusetts legislature to change the state’s succession law to require a special election.\u00a0 Kennedy pushed for that change for purely partisan reasons, he didn’t want the then Republican Governor,\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[811,810,809],"class_list":["post-2643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-elections","tag-massachusetts","tag-ted-kennedy","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pfpI7-GD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3170,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/12\/scott-brown-its-the-peoples-seat\/","url_meta":{"origin":2643,"position":0},"title":"Scott Brown: It’s the People’s Seat","author":"Jeff","date":"January 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Damn right... It is the people's seat... There a reason why the race to fill the senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts\u00a0 is apparently to close to call. This video clip from last night's debate between Republican Scott Brown, Democrat Martha Coakley and Independent Joe Kennedy demonstrates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3163,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/11\/boston-herald-democrats-would-stall-brown-to-pass-health-care-reform\/","url_meta":{"origin":2643,"position":1},"title":"Boston Herald: Democrats Would Stall Brown to Pass Health Care Reform","author":"Jeff","date":"January 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"There's and editorial in today's Wall Street Journal titled \"The 60th Senate Vote\". It details what's at stake in the January 19, special election to fill the Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy... in short, should Republican Scott Brown win he be the 41st Republican in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture of Corruption"","block_context":{"text":"Culture of Corruption","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture-of-corruption\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3185,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/19\/massachusetts-miracle-scott-browns-wins\/","url_meta":{"origin":2643,"position":2},"title":"Massachusetts Miracle: Scott Brown Wins!","author":"Jeff","date":"January 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I have to confess I haven't paid close attention to the special election in Massachusetts to fill the senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy... Frankly, I didn't think there was even the slightest chance that a Republican could win there, in fact republicans haven't won Senate race in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2651,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/26\/senates-liberal-lion-passes-ted-kennedy-was-77\/","url_meta":{"origin":2643,"position":3},"title":"Senate’s Liberal Lion Passes, Ted Kennedy Was 77","author":"Jeff","date":"August 26, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy passed away Tuesday night of complications related to a cancerous brain tumor: U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, a towering figure in the Democratic Party who took the helm of one of America's most fabled political families after two older brothers were assassinated, died at age 77,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Life"","block_context":{"text":"Life","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":865,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/27\/ted-stevens-guilty-on-all-counts\/","url_meta":{"origin":2643,"position":4},"title":"Ted Stevens: Guilty On All Counts","author":"Jeff","date":"October 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"From the Wall Street Journal: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens has been found guilty of lying about receiving gifts. Stevens, 84 years old, was charged with lying on financial documents to conceal $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts he received from oil services contractor VECO Corp. Stevens has steadfastly maintained\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3145,"url":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/06\/dodd-dorgan-to-retire-wont-seek-re-election\/","url_meta":{"origin":2643,"position":5},"title":"Dodd, Dorgan to Retire; Won’t Seek Re-election","author":"Jeff","date":"January 6, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The 2010 mid-term elections are still months, but things aren't looking good Democrats. Two long serving high profile Senators, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota have announced that they won't seek re-election: Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a Democratic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Culture of Corruption"","block_context":{"text":"Culture of Corruption","link":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/category\/culture-of-corruption\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2643\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jasetaro.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}