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Five years ago, the Massachusetts legislature, with the urging of then Senator Ted Kennedy,
changed the law concerning the replacement of U.S. senators who were unable to complete their term in office. The
new law took away the power of the governor of Massachusetts to appoint a temporary replacement and instead required
an interim election by the Massachusetts voters. The reason for the change in law was purely political – Five years
ago Senator John Kerry was running for President and if he had won election he would have to resign at which time
the then current law would have allowed the then Republican governor, Mitt Romney, to name Kerry’s temporary
replacement. Heaven Forbid that in Massachusetts, a Republican governor should be allowed to name a temporary
senatorial replacement. Why he might even name a Republican to that office! In Massachusetts, perhaps the most
liberal of states, Democrats rule the state legislature and its U.S. congressional office holders. The change in
law passed easily.
But that was five years ago, when Massachusetts had a Republican governor. Now, not only is
the state legislature totally controlled by the Democratic party, but the governor’s office is also held by a
Democrat, Deval Patrick. So, when Ted Kennedy passed away, the hue and cry from Washington arose to change the
Massachusetts succession law so that Governor Deval Patrick could appoint a Democratic replacement immediately.
Who are the ones in Washington that are so anxious to meddle in the conduct of the Massachusetts state government?
They are none other than the national leaders of the Democratic Party: President Barack Obama; House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi, and Senate President Harry Reid. Why the panic to change a law in the State of Massachusetts? The answer:
The Democratic leadership is fearful that its failing ObamaCare health reform plan might not pass in the U.S.
Senate. They will do anything to prevent losing the health care reform battle – even to the point of telling the
Massachusetts legislature and the Massachusetts governor what to do.
It was Ted Kennedy’s deathbed wish that the senatorial succession law be changed. “Before
he died, the lion of the Senate implored Deval Patrick to reverse the interim appointment law that Kennedy himself
had asked the Legislature to change five years earlier. And the governor, along with the Legislature,
complied.” (Ref. 1) After all, in Massachusetts, what Ted Kennedy or the Kennedy
family
wished was the same as an imperial edit. In his final years in office, Ted Kennedy achieved sainthood in the eyes of
the liberal democratic citizens of Massachusetts.
Over 200 years ago, the colony of Massachusetts led the fight to remove imperial rule and
replace it with a democratic form of government. We were successful in throwing off the yoke of King George and the
British royal family. It now appears that the citizens of Massachusetts have replaced the rule of Great Britain with
the rule of the Democratic Party and the monarchy of the British royal family with that of the Kennedy
clan.
So, on the 23rd of September 2009, “the Legislature approved Ted Kennedy’s deathbed wish to
repeal his 2004 nondeathbed wish to take away a (Republican) governor’s power to appoint an interim senator. See,
now the governor is a Democrat, the law is an ‘abomination.’ ” (Ref. 2.)
It wasn’t enough to simply change the succession law. The change had to go into effect
immediately, lest there be a vote in the U.S. Senate that might go against the Democrat’s health care plans. In
Massachusetts, “If the Legislature wants a bill to become law immediately, they have to attach what’s called an
‘emergency preamble.’ It takes a two-thirds vote to pass such a preamble, Otherwise the bill becomes law in 90
days” The Massachusetts Democrats didn’t have the necessary two-thirds majority. “But pay no attention to that
pesky Constitution. We’ll just have the governor decide it’s an ‘emergency.’ ”
(Ref. 2.) So,
Governor Patrick dutifully declared that an emergency existed and appointed Ted Kennedy’s interim successor. The
emergency apparently was so grave, that Massachusetts could not wait the 4 or 5 months until a “permanent”
replacement was duly elected by the citizenry. So, what exactly was the emergency? Were we being attacked? Would
government fall apart if Massachusetts only had one senator in Washington for a few months? Would some grave
disaster befall us? We note that "Senator Kennedy missed 97 percent of the roll calls in the Senate before his
death this year. None of the moonbats were braying about an emergency” (Ref. 2.)
during this
span of time. But now, we suddenly have an emergency. Five years ago, when the Republican governor had the
authority to appoint an interim replacement, it was O.K. to change the law taking away this authority and thereby
necessitating a five month wait till a replacement could be chosen in a special election.
“Hypocrisy in lawmaking isn’t a pretty sight, and we had hoped the Legislature would not be
bullied by the White House into reversing a position it took in 2004 – all just to assure an additional Democratic
vote for a health care bill.” (Ref. 3.)
We citizens of Massachusetts live in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. As State
Representative Brad Jones said, “First we shred the rules, now we shred the constitution.”
(Ref. 2.) In Massachusetts there's one set of rules for Democrats and a different
set of rules for everyone else - In the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, all men are created equal, except some
are more equal than others.
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References:
- Paul Kirk must make a difference, Peter Gelzinis, Boston Herald, Page 5,
September 25, 2009.
- The real state of emergency is ours, Howie Carr, Boston Herald, Page 4,
September 25, 2009.
- Unpack the boxes!, Editorial, Boston Herald, Page 20, September 25, 2009.
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