By Tom Moroney
Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick could temporarily replace the late U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy as early as the fourth week in September under a timetable being considered by Democratic members of the Legislature, a key committee chairman said today.
“It is possible to get it done” by Sept. 24 or 25, said state Representative Michael Moran, a Boston Democrat and co- chairman of the Joint Committee on Election Laws.
“Is it likely? I can’t answer that,” he said in an interview today. “There are too many moving parts.”
Allowing the governor to name an interim replacement would mean changing current law, which calls for a special election within five months of a Senate vacancy. There are no provisions for a temporary appointment.
When John Kerry, then the junior senator from Massachusetts, was running for president in 2004, the governor was Mitt Romney, 62, a Republican. The law at the time empowered the governor to appoint a replacement.
The Democrat-controlled legislature changed the law to require a special election to keep Romney from appointing a Republican. Then Kerry lost the election to incumbent President George W. Bush, 63.
Kennedy Letter
The week before his death, Kennedy sent a letter to Patrick, a fellow Democrat, urging him to persuade lawmakers to change the law so that someone could fill in before the special election. Kennedy argued in the letter that Massachusetts should have a mechanism to allow for the full complement of two senators as soon as possible after a resignation or death.
Possible candidates in the special election include Democratic U.S. Representatives Stephen Lynch, Michael Capuano, Edward Markey, James McGovern and William Delahunt.
State Attorney General Martha Coakley and former Representative Martin Meehan, both Democrats, could also contend as well as former Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey, a Republican.
A Democratic interim appointee would help keep the party’s 60-vote majority needed to maintain U.S. Senate support for health-care legislation, a top priority for President Barack Obama. Sixty votes are the minimum needed to end debate and force a vote on a bill. Kennedy had called health care “the cause of my life.”
“Any time you get a letter from Ted Kennedy, you certainly read it and consider whether you can accommodate him,” Moran said.
Sept. 17 Hearing
The timetable outlined by Moran starts with a possible Sept. 17 hearing by the committee he co-chairs with state Senator Thomas Kennedy.
“That’s the date that’s been under discussion,” Kennedy, a Democrat who isn’t related to Edward Kennedy, said. “I caution that there is no agreement on this, but it’s the one we’ve been talking about.”
Procedurally, the bill would be heard by the committee on that Thursday. The panel would then go into executive session to poll the members. A report would be issued and the entire Legislature could vote within days, possibly by the end of the next week, Sept. 24 or 25.
Patrick, in an interview with the Boston public radio station WBUR yesterday, said he would sign such a bill when it lands on his desk. As soon as he signs, Moran said, he could choose the interim replacement.
‘Biggest Hurdle’
“The biggest hurdle is that nobody, including me, wants to see this is as a handoff,” that is, having the governor appoint someone temporarily who then becomes the frontrunner in the special election for the permanent seat, Moran said.
Lawmakers are negotiating the final language, trying to decide what wording best prevents that from happening, said state Representative Robert Koczera, a Democrat who represents the New Bedford area. Koczera filed a bill in January to change the current law and allow for an interim U.S. senator.
Koczera said he had heard legislative leaders were working to schedule a hearing by mid-September. It was unlikely there would be any official announcement “out of respect” until after Kennedy’s Aug. 29 funeral.
Democrats control both the Massachusetts House and Senate. Republican leaders who oppose the change could stall the process, said state Senator Robert O’Leary, a Cape Cod Democrat.
The timetable Moran described is possible, “but if Republicans wanted to slow it down, they could,” O’Leary said from his cell phone as he was stationed on a road in Hyannis watching the Kennedy motorcade leave for Boston with the senator’s casket and family members.
Republican Opposition
“In all honesty, if they think they want to do that, they can get it through,” said Massachusetts House Minority Leader Bradley Jones, a North Reading Republican who has been outspoken in his opposition.
There are only 16 Republicans in the 160-member Massachusetts House and five in the 40-member Senate.
Jones said the Democrats were being hypocritical because his party tried in vain to change the law for an interim appointee as early as 2004.
“It shows Democrats don’t care about principle. They don’t care about debate. They don’t care about the rules,” he said. “It really is disgusting.”
Moran disputed the charge, saying the Republicans were after a long-term appointment whereas the Democrats now are looking for a temporary measure.
Obama will stay out of the debate, Bill Burton, deputy White House press secretary, told reporters in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, where the president is vacationing with his family.
“It’s not a scale he’s going to put his thumb on,” Burton said. Selecting a replacement for Kennedy is “for the people, legislature and the governor of Massachusetts to decide.”
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