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Massachusetts Will Appoint Interim Senator |
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Today, the process of ensuring that Massachusetts voters will get full representation in the U.S. Senate moved forward, as the Massachusetts Senate approved a bill allowing an interim appointment for the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
The bill, which would give Gov. Deval Patrick the authority to name a temporary appointee to the open seat, was passed by the State Senate, 24-16, following a 95-58 vote in favor of the bill in the State House. The bill will likely go to Patrick’s desk later this week, allowing him to name a successor to the Senate’s longtime champion of working families.
Massachusetts will hold a special election early next year to fill the remainder of Kennedy’s term, which runs through January 2013. The bill passed by the state legislature ensures that, between now and the special election, Massachusetts will have a full delegation of two senators.
Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, said he’s glad the state will have its full representation in Congress:
Massachusetts can stand tall before the rest of the nation today because our State Senators and Representatives had the courage to restore the full strength of our democracy by creating a temporary interim appointment for U.S. Senate. We are on our way to full representation in that important congressional chamber because our state legislators chose to live up to their solemn responsibility to put the interests of the people who elect them above the partisan politics of elections….The fortitude of our legislators means that Massachusetts can once again assume our rightful role as a national leader on all the important issues facing us.
Once he is given the official authority, we urge Governor Patrick to appoint a senator who will serve in the likeness of Senator Kennedy and support health care reform and the Employee Free Choice Act, so we can go about rebuilding the middle class in this country.
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