Senator Gillibrand is one half of the representation right now for the State of New York in the United States Senate. Her views though are probably not in line with the majority of one of the biggest democratic strongholds in the country. Senator Gillibrand appears to be a centrist who has been supported by the National Rifle Association and as a lawyer worked for Phillip Morris. These issues alone would make her a long shot to beat most New York City liberals.
She will likely now though see little primary challenge due to the Democratic Party not wanting to lose the seat to a Republican such as former New York Governor Pataki. So now Senator Gillibrand has the possibility to represent the State of New York for a very long time and it really has nothing to do with her views being in line with the State’s. She Governor Patterson probably felt pressure to pick a female from Upstate New York, especially since he will also need support in 2010 to keep his position as Governor.
One vote in the Senate is a very big deal so for person to have one for an extended period of time due to her selection by a governor who was also not elected to his office does not make much sense. It is entirely possible Senator Gillibrand will move more toward the left and represent New York well, but that does not change the fact that the way she received the position does not seem fair.
Source: http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/g/kirsten_gillibrand/index.html?inline=nyt-per
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
A Problem with Picking Interim U.S. Senators
The procedure for how a vacancy in the United States Senate is filled differs from State to State. That is because Articles I, section III of the United States Constitution which was amended by the seventeenth amendment says
“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”
So what happens is that the legislature of a particular State has the ability to give the power to the Governor to pick an interim Senator and also to issue a writ of election for when the election should take place. In most states the governor has the ability to pick an interim Senator. I believe this practice raises a big problem.
A governor is going to pick someone to fill the seat that can either help them in the future, or help their party in the future. The people will have the say when it comes to finishing out the term, or in the following election for the full six year term, but the interim Senator would have an advantage over challengers in the special election due to their status as incumbent. It is true that governors are elected, but in the future I will go into a non elected governor appointing someone to the Senate. It is also true that people elect Governors for much different reasons than Senators.
In the end the people should have the most power in deciding who represents them in Congress. Letting the State Legislature or the Governor decide how things will play out is not representative. I believe all states should have special elections to decide the nest person to hold the seat. They should be held quickly so the public can have the amount of representation given to them in the Constitution. I will look at some special elections coming up for vacant Senate seats.
Source: http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Vacancies.pdf
“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”
So what happens is that the legislature of a particular State has the ability to give the power to the Governor to pick an interim Senator and also to issue a writ of election for when the election should take place. In most states the governor has the ability to pick an interim Senator. I believe this practice raises a big problem.
A governor is going to pick someone to fill the seat that can either help them in the future, or help their party in the future. The people will have the say when it comes to finishing out the term, or in the following election for the full six year term, but the interim Senator would have an advantage over challengers in the special election due to their status as incumbent. It is true that governors are elected, but in the future I will go into a non elected governor appointing someone to the Senate. It is also true that people elect Governors for much different reasons than Senators.
In the end the people should have the most power in deciding who represents them in Congress. Letting the State Legislature or the Governor decide how things will play out is not representative. I believe all states should have special elections to decide the nest person to hold the seat. They should be held quickly so the public can have the amount of representation given to them in the Constitution. I will look at some special elections coming up for vacant Senate seats.
Source: http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/Vacancies.pdf
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