In my post about Roland Burris, I wrote:
"Hopefully this will lead to more states changing their laws and making it so governors cannot appoint replacement U.S. Senators. It is inherently undemocratic. There should be special elections, just like in the U.S. House. At least some progress can be made. Maybe appointments have to have been elected to statewide office before (sorry Caroline). Another possible step is to make it so that there is a special election, but until then there is a temporary appointed placeholder. Either way, this current system blows."Not much more than a week later and *BAM* here comes Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin:
“The controversies surrounding some of the recent gubernatorial appointments to vacant Senate seats make it painfully clear that such appointments are an anachronism that must end. In 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution gave the citizens of this country the power to finally elect their senators. They should have the same power in the case of unexpected mid term vacancies, so that the Senate is as responsive as possible to the will of the people. I plan to introduce a constitutional amendment this week to require special elections when a Senate seat is vacant, as the Constitution mandates for the House, and as my own state of Wisconsin already requires by statute. As the Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee, I will hold a hearing on this important topic soon.”His proposed constitutional amendment would require special elections in the event of Senate vacancies.
Not only do I support this amendment, but I think it is one of the few times an amendment actually has a possibility of passing. Usually they are just symbolic gestures.
Have a nice day!
1 comment:
I am opposed to general idea of the 17th Amendment, because it directly eliminates an important right of the states; that is, the state legislature needs to have a hand in the federal government, just as much as the people are.
However, if we're going to stick with the 17th Amendment, which we are, I can fully support this one; it makes very little sense to have Senators elected by the people in one case and appointed by a governor in another.
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