Word: seated
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Insisted that he would not accept the Commerce nomination if New Hampshire Governor John Lynch intended to appoint a Democrat to the Senate seat he would be vacating, a development that-depending on the outcome of the court challenge to Al Franken's apparent U.S. Senate victory in Minnesota-could have given a Democrats the 60-seat majority needed to force legislation through the Senate...
...newly minted senator to win a full term and puts the weight of an influential family behind the governor’s own reelection efforts. This consideration caused Governor David Paterson to initially favor Caroline Kennedy ’79 for New York’s open seat. Though Kennedy was widely panned for her inexperience and poor performance in press conferences, Paterson stood by the former first daughter, hoping to gain the Kennedy family’s support for his 2010 reelection...
...partisan political ploy. Though this situation has not arisen in recent years, it nearly occurred in 2006, when Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) suffered a major stroke. Had Sen. Johnson died, Mike Rounds, the Republican governor of South Dakota, would have appointed a Republican to the vacant seat, thereby delivering the majority in the Senate back...
...Worst of all, political appointments present a tempting opportunity for quid pro quo backroom deals, as demonstrated by Governor Rod Blagojevich’s attempted sale of Illinois’s open Senate seat. Though most governors would never engage in such brazen corruption, it takes just one light-fingered public official to tarnish the democratic process. Furthermore, even honest governors expect some sort of goodie in return for choosing a candidate, be it political support or fundraising help. As Governor Blagojevich crudely put it, “a Senate seat is a [expletive] valuable thing, you don?...
...these serious conflicts of interest could be avoided if vacant Senate seats were filled through special elections. Upon a senator’s death or resignation, the governor would set a date for the election of the senator’s replacement. The election would be held within three months of the vacancy, and the winner would fill the Senate seat until the next regularly scheduled election. Special elections are used to fill open seats in the House of Representatives and many offices at the statewide level. They are practical and feasible, and would give a state?...