Ailing Ted Kennedy asks for speedy replacement process
By Laura Crimaldi
Thursday, August 20, 2009 - Updated 2h ago
In a stunning admission of his frailty, an ailing U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is asking the governor and legislative leaders to
rewrite state law to allow for a temporary gubernatorial appointment to his seat.
Kennedy’s request comes in the midst of the heated national debate over health care, which has been the senior senator’s focus in Congress for decades. He does not address his battle with brain cancer in a letter to Gov. Deval Patrick and state leaders, but Kennedy does signal his struggle could be nearing an end.
“I am now writing to you about an issue that concerns me deeply - the continuity of representation for Massachusetts should a Senate vacancy occur,” Kennedy wrote in July 2 letter to Patrick, state Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo.
In the letter, Kennedy asks that legislation be passed to change a law adopted in 2004 to provide for a special election to choose a new U.S. Senator in the event of a vacancy.
The law was pushed through during the 2004 presidential election because state lawmakers wanted to prevent then-Gov. Mitt Romney from appointing a successor for U.S. Sen. John F. Kerry, who was the Democratic presidential nominee.
Under the 2004 law, a special election is mandated within 145 to 160 days after the Senate seat becomes vacant.
“I strongly support that law and the principle that the people should elect their Senator,” Kennedy wrote. “I also believe it is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election.”
Kennedy also asks that the interim post be filled by someone who makes “an explicit personal commitment” not to run in the special election for the vacant seat.
Kennedy, 77, makes no mention of his medical condition. Last week, he skipped funeral services for his older sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 88, but did attend a private family wake in her honor.
Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in May 2008. He was initially treated with surgery, followed by chemotherapy and radiation treatment. But despite his battle with cancer, Kennedy has attempted to keep working.
"For almost 47 years, I have had the privilege of representing the people of Massachusetts in the United States Senate," Kennedy wrote in his letter. He added that serving in the Senate "has been — and still is — the greatest honor of my public life."
Despite speculation that Kennedy’s wife, Vicki, is interested in the seat, family aides have said she is not interested in replacing her husband either temporarily or permanently. One of Kennedy’s nephews, former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, has also been described as interested, along with a number of the state’s remaining congressional members and local lawmakers.
Amid similar speculation about a Senate vacancy last fall, when Kerry was under consideration for secretary of state, Murray was adamant that the law not be changed. After recent inquiries from The Associated Press, aides to both Murray and DeLeo said they are unlikely to back any change.
Aides to both leaders say an election was more democratic than a gubernatorial appointment, and they cited the legal and political problems that plagued former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and New York Gov. David Paterson when they filled vacancies for President Barack Obama and former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, respectively.
Murray is also a strong backer of Martha Coakley, the first female attorney general in Massachusetts and someone who has quietly laid the groundwork for a special-election campaign.
Murray and DeLeo issued a joint statement today that does not address Kennedy’s request.
“We have great respect for the Senator and what he continues to do for our Commonwealth and our nation,” the statement said. “It is our hope that he will continue to be a voice for the people of Massachusetts as long as he is able.”
Patrick said in a statement: "It’s typical of Ted Kennedy to be thinking ahead and about the people of Massachusetts, when the rest of us are thinking about him."
Patrick was the top civil rights official in the Clinton administration, and he has argued about the importance of the public vote. But last fall he noted more than 40 other states fill congressional vacancies by gubernatorial appointment. He also cited the state’s deteriorating fiscal condition as one argument to skip a special election and empower the governor to fill vacancies.
Besides Joseph Kennedy and Coakley, Democrats who might try to succeed Kennedy include Reps. Stephen Lynch, Michael Capuano, Edward Markey, James McGovern and William Delahunt.
Former Rep. Martin Meehan, now chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, has $4.8 million in his federal campaign account, the largest sum of any potential candidate. That would give him the advantage in any special election sprint.
On the Republican side, potential candidates include Cape Cod businessman Jeff Beatty, former Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, former U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan and Chris Egan, former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Cooperation and Development.
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