Tag Archives: ussenate

20 August 2009

Empty Senate Seats

By Nicki

This has been the year for under-representation in the US Senate.  As you may recall from your American history class, the legislative part of the United States government is made up of two house – the House of Representatives where the representation is dependent on state population and the Senate where representation is two per state.

Look at this particular year in the history of the Senate.

Al Franken (D-MN) and Norm Coleman (R-MN) were tied up in an extremely close election.  There were recounts and court appeals before, in April – four months after the Senate convened for its session, the winner was decided.  This decision was also appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court where, on June 30, 2009, Al Franken was declared the winner.  He was sworn in as a United States Senator on July 7, 2009.  The state of Minnesota spent six months being under-represented in the US Senate.

New York did not spend nearly that amount of time being underrepresented.  The junior US Senator from NY Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) was nominated by her former adversary to the position of Secretary of State.  The nomination came on December 1, 2008.  This would give, all would think, Governor David A Paterson (D-NY) plenty of time to decide on a successor as, according to NYS law, US Senate vacancies are by appointment of the governor.  On January 21, 2009, Hillary Rodham Clinton was confirmed by the US Senate as the 67th Secretary of State.  Member of Congress Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate seat on January 23, 2009 and officially took the oath of office on January 27.  The state of NY was underrepresented for one month in the US Senate.

The Boston Globe is reporting today that US Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) is hoping to prevent any time of under-representation in the US Senate for his home state of Massachusetts.  Kennedy, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor over a year ago, has not been in Washington.  He has been keeping in touch with his colleague, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), and his staff in DC but has not been on the floor of the senate while an issue- health care reform - that has been central to his almost fifty year Senate career has evolved.  The letter, sent to Governor Deval L Patrick (D) and Massachusetts state senate president and house speaker, asks for a change in a 2004 state law that says US Senate vacancies are filled by special elections that must take place within five months.  Kennedy is asking both the legislature and the governor to consider changing this to allow for an appointment by the governor to fill gap between a vacancy and the special election and administering of the oath of office.

In the middle of a vital battle to reform health care in this country, Kennedy wants to be sure the opinions of Massachusetts residents are represented in the US Senate.  Whether this means Kennedy feels his own mortality and that death is close or whether it means he realizes he cannot continue in his position as a US Senator is inconsequential.  All states would do well to watch closely what Massachusetts does.  Ideally, in my mind, there would be one way – in all 50 states – to fill vacancies in the US Senate.  This method would allow for an appointment immediately and a special election to follow in a timely manner.  To have a state, in the legislative chamber that is suppose to contain equal representation for each state, underrepresented is down right unamerican.

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19 August 2009

Carly Fiorina vs Barbara Boxer

By Nicki

The last I had heard of Carly Fiorina she was an economic advisor to Republican presidential candidate, Senator John McCain (R-AZ).  Highly intelligent, Fiorina was unfortunately also very truthful on the campaign trail.  Her fatal political flaw, as it may be, surfaced when she indicated she didn’t feel either candidate for president was qualified to run a business.  Not the best words to come out of a candidate’s economic advisor’s mouth if you happen to be leading the polls but definitely a bad move if you are not.

Fiorina has taken the first step in what all believe will be a run for the US Senate against current Senator Barbara Boxer.  Even though Fiorina has recently been diagnosed and battled breast cancer, she is 15 years Boxer’s junior so age is on her side.  Unfortunately, California needs all the seniority it can get in the US Senate and the Congress so that will go against Fiorina.

It is expected that Fiorina will run against California Assemblyman Chuck Devore (R-Irvine) in a GOP primary next June.  Devore does not have name recognition or the ability to raise the funds that Fiorina can going for him.  Most likely, Fiorina will – should she make the final decision to run – win the primary.

A GOP primary win will leave Fiorina in need of massive amounts of money to run a successful – or even the looks of a successful – campaign against an three-term incumbent like Boxer and in a state that leans left anyway.  Boxer has already raised over $5 million in anticipation of facing  Fiorina, according to Southern California Public Radio.

While it may end up being a losing battle, California GOP should stand strongly behind Carly Fiorina as she is one of the few candidates with the ability raise funds to be able to run a competitive campaign against Senator Boxer.  She also has the ability to help her own campaign as she is independently wealthy.

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29 April 2009

Specter A Democrat?

By Nicki

Maybe the catchy title to this post should be “Has the GOP seen a Specter?,” as in a ghost.  I spent yesterday as I am today, on a news boycott.  I can’t deal with another story dissecting the first 100 days of this administration.  I also do not want to hear anymore stories on swine flu today.  I am listening to music today.  Unfortunately, news happens whether I am paying attention or not and that was the case yesterday when Senator Arlen Specter, previously a Republican from Pennsylvania, became a Democrat.

 

Specter is a five term senator and is looking to be re-elected.  The biggest problem for him was that his own party was mounting at least one challenger to him in the GOP primary, with more possibles just waiting to jump in.  Specter barely survived this antic the last election and most likely would not have survived this time.

 

While many pundits are saying that this is truly a pure political decision, I think Sen. Specter is doing what is best for the constituency that elected him.  Pennsylvania, a neighboring state to my home state of New York, has become more and more moderate.  Democrats are taking over more of the state offices.  Over 200,000 Republicans changed their registration last year to be able to vote for now President Barack Obama in the primaries.  For Specter to best serve the interests of those he represents, he needs to maintain the clout he once had and that he grew and developed since fierst being elected to the US Senate in 1980.  A Republican senator who has routinely voted a more moderate line than the caucus would like does not afford his constituents the power that a state like Pennsylvania needs.

 

While Specter knew he would not win a GOP primary, he also knows that his constituents – the citizenry of Pennsylvania – deserve a senator that can help the state through the tough economic times ahead.  He also knows that he can accomplish more with a D after his name at this point in his career, than with an R after it.  While it may sound political – after all, that is what politics is all about, it is serving his state that in the end drove Specter to move parties.

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25 September 2008

Actions Speak Louder than Words

By Nicki

I cannot imagine that I am saying these things.  My grandmother is probably turning over in her grave while my father is welcoming to his party a bit late.

I do believe that it is important for the American people to hear from their future leader.  Unfortunately, I do not necessarily believe that this “hearing” should be done in Oxford, Mississippi.  I have nothing against Mississippi.  I just believe that – as the title says – actions speak louder than words.

Yes, it is true John McCain is not on the Senate banking committee.  Yes, this means he is not in the committee room working on a bill to go to the Senate floor.  This does not mean that his presence, and possibly even pressure, is not needed in Washington.  His presence and ability to work with other Republicans and Democrats will show more of a leadership ability than any debate will.

While I do believe that market adjustment will be painful without a bailout package, I voted for certain people to represent me.  While I don’t necessarily agree with their method, an economic bailout will ultimately be easier on the US public than letting the market ride out the adjustment.

I seriously encourage all sitting US Senators to return to Washington, DC and do the job they were elected to do.  This will take a few days out of a very tight campaign cycle but will benefit both the American public in general and your constituents in particular more than continuing on the campaign trail.

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15 July 2008

Jesse Ventura and Politics … Again?

By Nicki

I am sure Minnesotans were hoping the issue of Jesse Ventura moving back into the political arena in their state would end quickly.  The race in question – a US Senate race – is already the source of constant speculation as comic Al Franken has left comedy behind to run against incumbent Norm Coleman.

Ventura was weighing a run as an Independent in this same US Senate race.  Both Franken and Coleman first dismissed the thought of Ventura as not really being viable.  In recent days, though, both have admitted that Ventura entering the race would have caused a drastic change in the race.

I watched last evening as Jesse Ventura spoke with Larry King of CNN about his decision to not run.  I listened as Ventura said that worrying about what higher power our candidates worship should not be an issue.  He did a good job of “dissing” President Bush on the God issue, basically saying that while Bush said he talked to God about invading Iraq, he himself had not heard from God that he should enter this race.  I did have quite a good laugh.

Then, in a moment of remembrance, I was quickly saddened.  Jesse Ventura’s run for governor in Minnesota had been run by a third party guru – Doug Friedline.  Doug passed away last November in an apartment in Florida after running Max Linn’s third party attempt at the Florida governorship.  While I truly believe Ventura to be his own man, I am not sure he could run this type of a third party campaign with Friedline. 

Jesse -If God does speak to you before 5 pm today, good luck!  Your campaign will be in my spotlight even though I am about 1200 miles away.

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7 February 2008

Another Senate Vote

By Nicki

As I discussed yesterday, there were absences from the Senate floor in the initial vote for the economic stimulus package.  The Senate, seeing the flaw in not pretending to help the American people, went back to work immediately and today passed an economic stimulus package. 

This piece is not about the stimulus package, as such.  It is about the vote.  The initial vote was a roll call vote.  99 senators voted.  John McCain did not.  He was too busy trying to win his party’s nomination for president. 

Today’s vote on a stimulus package did pass.  Whether it actually stimulates the economy has yet to be seen.  I doubt it will.  What has been seen is that this vote 97 senators voted on the bill.  97 senators saw fit to do their jobs as elected representatives of the people this bill is suppose to help.  Three senators did not vote.  John McCain, who was in Washington, was too busy addressing CPAC 2008.  Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were also on the campaign trail. 

While I understand all three senators’ political ambitions, I realize that if I were to ignore the responsibilities of my job to obtain a different position, I would most likely end up fire from the current job.  All three senators were elected to represent their states in the US Senate, the body of the US Congress that has equal representation for each state.  All three senators are doing the constituency they represent a disservice by not doing the job for which they were elected.

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