Monday, June 04, 2007

A common sense policy

Back in 2000, there was a lot of talk here in Connecticut about succession for a Senator who leaves office partway through the term, such as what Joe Lieberman was considering when he ran simultaneously for Senate reelection and VP on the Gore ticket. Had Gore/Lieberman won, the Republican Governor in Connecticut would have been free to appoint a Republican to the vacated Democratic seat.

This always struck me as going against the will of the voters and the spirit of the democracy.

Today, Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY) died after battling leukemia since November. From CNN.com, here is the way Wyoming deals with succession.
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will be responsible for choosing someone to replace Thomas. The seat, however, will not switch parties because, under state law, Freudenthal is required to pick a new senator from a list of three candidates submitted by the Republican state central committee.

"If Thomas should die or resign, Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, would name a replacement who would serve until a successor can be chosen in a November 2008 special election," another news source said.
Maybe it's time for Connecticut's legislature to craft a succession plan that would be more in line with Wyoming's policy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting problem: Under the Wyoming rules, if ho joe gets a cabinet post or something, who would recommend his replacement? The Dems he caucuses with or the CFL party? Could be a major brawl.
oldswede

CT Bob said...

That would be a dicey problem, but since Joe sort of caucuses with the Democrats (except in matters of the War, or anything the Bush administration wants) it would probably be a Democratic choice.

Then again, Joe will probably be long gone by the time this becomes a law here in CT, or at the very least Bush will be out of office and nobody will be offering Joe Lieberschmuck any appointments except maybe as dog catcher.