Lawmakers launch debate on Kennedy succession

(NECN: Greg Wayland, Boston, Mass.) – Massachusetts lawmakers are debating whether Governor Patrick should be allowed to name an interim appointment to the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. Republicans are hoping to postpone the debate. Speaker Robert DeLeo said he believed there were enough votes to pass the bill in the 160-member House. He said the change in law is needed to ensure that Massachusetts continues to be represented by two senators until voters can choose a replacement during a Jan. 19 special election. Patrick, a Democrat and ally of President Barack Obama, also supports the change. The bill would require the appointee be from the same party as the person who created the vacancy, a Democrat in the case of Kennedy’s successor. Republicans, who number just 16 in the House, opposed the bill. They point out that Democrats changed the succession law in 2004 to create a special election and block then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, from naming a temporary replacement if Sen. John Kerry had won his presidential bid. To change the law now that there is a Democrat in the governor’s office smacks of hypocrisy, they said. The debate is being followed closely in Washington, where Democrats hope to regain a 60-vote, filibuster-proof margin in the U.S. Senate ahead of any debate on President Obama’s health care overhaul. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and the state’s all-Democratic congressional delegations also back the change, saying they need all the votes they can to support the health care change. Obama presidential counselor David Axelrod has contacted Massachusetts officials, according to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. The Massachusetts branch of Obama’s political arm, Organizing for America, has sent out e-mails advocating for the change. DeLeo said lawmakers wanted to bar any appointee from also running as a candidate in the special election, but said they could not constitutionally include that provision in the bill. DeLeo said House lawmakers instead hoped to pass a separate resolution stating that it is the intention of the House that an appointee not also be a candidate in the special election. Patrick has said he would extract from the appointee a promise not to be a candidate in the special election. The bill could also surface in the Massachusetts Senate on Thursday. Senate President Therese Murray, a Democrat, has been more tight-lipped about the bill’s chances in that chamber. Senate Republican leader Richard Tisei has said he’ll object to the Senate taking up the bill. Senate rules require unanimous consent to debate a bill not already on the calendar, and the succession bill wasn’t listed for Thursday’s session. An objection would delay it until the Senate’s next formal session. There is none scheduled for Friday. Tisei could use other parliamentary moves to delay a vote for additional days. Kennedy died Aug. 25 of brain cancer. *Material from The Associated Press used in this report*