KENNEDYCHUSETTS

First of all I would like to apologize for not posting in a long while. Due to the downturn in the economy, my business has received most of my attention along with a daughter going off to college. Enough said.

I have been very interested in watching all of the goings on with Ted Kennedy and the Massachusetts Senate seat that he fills/filled. I find it very interesting that approximately two weeks before his death he sends a letter to the Massachusetts legislature. In this letter he asks the legislature to change the law from requiring a special election to fill a US Senate seat within five months of the incumbent vacating the seat and not allowing the governor to appoint a successor to allowing the governor to appoint a successor to fill the seat until the special election could be held. Very interesting. First of all I sincerely doubt that Teddy wrote this letter having only a couple of weeks to live. If by chance he did, it would show a side of Teddy that many people didn't know or want to recognize. That of a power hungry and arrogant individual who above all else would sacrifice family, time and those around him to hold on to power. If he didn't write the letter, then who did? We may never know.

Let's look at what the letter was asking the Massachuetts legislature to do. My understanding is that Massachusetts law used to be that the Governor would appoint a successor to a vacated US Senate seat. This law was changed when the other infamous Senator from Massachusetts, John Kerry, ran for President. Why was it changed you may ask? The reason is because the Governor of Massachusetts at that time was a gentleman named Mitt Romney, a republican. They did not want Mitt to be able to appoint a republican to the vacated Senate seat in the case that John Kerry won the US Presidency. In the end, as you know, big John did not win the Presidency and he maintained his Senate seat. Everyone seemed to have forgotten about the fact that the law on Senate seat succession in Massachusetts had been changed. That is of course until Teddy was coming to end of his life due to brain cancer. At this point the letter was sent to the Massachusetts legislature requesting/suggesting/demanding (who knows?) that the law be changed back to allowing the Governor to appoint a successor to a vacated Senate seat. Why would Teddy (or his handlers) want this? Well, first of all, Massachusetts now has a democrat Governor. Second, if the law remains unchanged, the governor can't appoint a democrat to the vacated Senate seat and must wait on the results of a special election. Third, the governor cannot appoint Victoria Kennedy (Teddy's wife) or another Kennedy family member to the vacated seat. And fourth, a guarantee cannot be given that Victoria Kennedy or a Kennedy family member would be elected in a special election. It is important to note that the majority of the time, incumbents are able to keep their positions in elections. So, to get a Kennedy appointed into the seat is very important to give them the upper hand in a special election as an incumbent.

The people of Massachusetts should be outraged that their laws are being used and changed in this fashion. The Senate seat held by Ted Kennedy is a Massachusetts Senate seat. It is being viewed by the Kennedy's and by the majority of the US Senate as Teddy's Senate Seat. The Massachusetts legislature is going to review changing the law back to allowing the Governor to appoint a successor. Massachusetts should stand up and demand that the current law on the books be followed. If they don't, they should change the states name to KENNEDYCHUSETTS and consider themselves subjects.


Elmer Holmes Davis

“This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

OOO-Rah!!!


Southern Boy Sense