«Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), who is suffering from brain cancer and has missed most of the sessions of the Senate this year, has sent a letter (PDF) to Massachusetts leaders asking for a change in state law to allow his seat in Congress to be more rapidly filled.
The letter, first obtained by the Boston Globe, asks state lawmakers to select a temporary replacement should a U.S. Senate seat become vacant. Under a 2004 revision to the Massachusetts succession law, a U.S. Senate seat that becomes vacant can only be filled through a special election held at least 145 days after the seat becomes available, leaving the state with only one senator for months.
Though it does not articulate this, Kennedy's letter seems an effort to assure that Democrats in the Senate are not missing a key Democratic vote should the longtime senator succumb to cancer in the middle of the debate on expanding health insurance, long one of Kennedy's passions. Democrats have 60 votes in the Senate when Kennedy is able to participate and might need all of them if the chamber's 40 Republicans unify to oppose health-care reform efforts.
"I strongly support that law and the principle that the people should elect their senator," Kennedy wrote in the letter, dated July 2 but only sent to state officials this week. "I also believe it is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election."
In his letter, Kennedy calls for state leaders to get a commitment from the person who accepts the temporary appointment not to run in the special election.
Massachusetts lawmakers changed the law to require a special election back in 2004, and it's not clear how they will revise it now, despite Kennedy's plea. In a joint statement to the Globe, state Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert A. Deleo, both Democrats, were noncommittal on the request, saying only "we have great respect for the senator and what he continues to do for our Commonwealth and our nation. It is our hope that he will continue to be a voice for the people of Massachusetts as long as he is able."
Anthony Coley, a Kennedy spokesman, said the release of the letter was not occasioned by any change in the senator's health. Several of Kennedy's Senate colleagues say they have spoken with him in recent weeks, but Kennedy did not attend the funeral last week of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
"The senator drafted this letter because he is thinking about the future and the interests of the state," Coley said.»
in site do Washington Post, «Capitol Briefing», texto de Perry Bacon Jr.
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