Will Democrats try to change the U.S. Senate vacancy process before Corzine leaves?
By Wally EdgeWatch for New Jersey Democrats to consider legislation that will change the way the state fills vacancies in the United States Senate. Now that Democrats have lost the governorship, some party leaders are concerned that Republican Gov.-elect Christopher Christie would appoint a U.S. Senator if Democrat Frank Lautenberg, who turns 86 in January, leaves office without finishing the final four years of his term. Some Democratic leaders have already discussed a plan to take the appointment away from the governor and forcing a quick special election. Jon Corzine could sign that bill before he leaves office in January.
Five years ago, when there was a good chance that Democrat John Kerry might get elected president, the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts Legislature changed the law so that Republican Gov. Mitt Romney could not appoint Kerry's successor.
An appointment to fill a vacancy could be the GOP's best hope of sending a Republican to the U.S. Senate for the first time since they held the seat for eight months in 1982. Democrats, anxious to maintain their filibuster-proof 60-vote majority, may not want to chance it. And New Jersey's junior Senator, Robert Menendez, is the Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Click here to read Matt Friedman's 2007 story.
Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey since 1972, when Clifford Case won a fourth term over former U.S. Rep. Paul Krebs. That was the last time Massachusetts sent a Republican to the Senate. Only two other states, Hawaii and West Virginia, have gone longer without a GOP U.S. Senate victory.
The last Republican to represent New Jersey in the United States Senate was Nicholas Brady, a Wall Street banker who was appointed by Gov. Thomas Kean in 1982 following the criminal conviction of four-term U.S. Sen. Harrison Williams. Brady did not run for a full-term in the 1982 general election, and resigned in December so that Lautenberg could enter the Senate a week early.
After leaving the Senate, Brady served as U.S. Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan and Bush administrations.
Contributors
Wally Edge
South Jersey Democrats are touting Cinnaminson native Anthony Mazzarelli, the head of the emergency medicine department at Cooper University ... >
Bob Torricelli
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Michael Patrick Carroll
Political discourse in America contains much in the way of intellect or intellectual honesty. One considers the Federalist Papers with wistful awe: ... >
Jeff Michaels
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Richard LaRossa
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Alan Steinberg
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Dr. Joseph Marbach
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Carla Katz
When he was growing up, Chris Christie's folks must have taught him that when he went to a new playground, he should pick a fight with the ... >
Joey Novick
Ronald C. Rice tweeted not so sweetly about soon-to-be Senate President Stephen Sweeney.
Well, we were able to obtain the rest of the ... >
Murray Sabrin
New Jersey voters repudiated Governor Jon Corzine's policies of the past four years on November 3rd. Republican Chris Christie and Independent ... >
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haven't we all had enough
of dirty tricks ? We have all just voted for change ..no?
how we voted is of no factor here
Don't think for a moment the Democrats care that a majority in NJ voted for change. It is always about power and their ability to hold on to it.
Dirty tricks, you say? These tricks are standard operating procedures to Democrats. Labeling them as dirty implies the Democratic Party has a moral base from which to determine clean from dirty. They have no base and therefore there is no limit to the "procedures" used to outright ignore or counter voter opinion.