“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," says Feingold in a statement.
While this is a popular position in the blogosphere as of late, I'm not sure I totally agree. For one, Senate elections are really expensive. And it seems like a rushed Senate election would produce a result not all that dissimilar from a gubernatorial appointment anyway. Who has the clout, who has the money. Governors want to gain something from it too, they're not just going to go appointing randoms who won't help them. The millions of dollars that will get wasted cannot be worth the "gain" that any one group may feel -- how much are you willing to spend on the illusion of democracy?
Another point is the hypocrisy of this whole thing. The law is fine until it's not fine. You're introducing an amendment because of a corrupt governor who was indicted and was in the process of being impeached when the time came for an appointment to be made? It's not like this situation is going to happen again. And I don't see what the issue is with the Paterson side of it. He didn't pick Kennedy -- who the voters demonstrably did not want -- so the process is a failure? Nice, fair-minded approach, Russ.
