According to Cliff, the rumor mill has churned out none other than independent Senator Joe Lieberman as a possible Bush nominee to replace disgraced Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez. However, if you’ve believed all the rumors, Lieberman should have been one or all of the following by now: Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Homeland Security, Ambassador to the United Nations, and George Bush’s running mate in 2004.
But for the sake of exploring every wild-eyed hypothetical, let’s assume that Lieberman answers Bush’s call and gets confirmed by the Senate as the next AG. At present, Connecticut law states that, in the event of a Senate vacancy, the Governor gets to appoint a replacement. If Lieberman were to leave, that would put the ball in Republican Gov. Jodi Rell’s court to name his successor.
So, whom might Rell appoint? The Republican bench isn’t exactly burgeoning with obvious possibilities, seeing as how Rell and her Lieutenant, Michael Fedele, are the state’s only current GOP statewide office holders. Looking to those with Congressional experience, ex-Rep. Nancy Johnson is 72 years old, and appointing current Rep. Chris Shays would almost certainly cause his House seat to fall to the Democrats–an unattractive option for Rell. If she doesn’t tap someone from the state legislature, there’s always Rob Simmons, who represented a district with a sharply Democratic PVI of D+7.6 from 2000 until his defeat last November.
Of course, Connecticut Democrats, who hold a veto-proof majority in the state legislature, could make this hypothetical moot by quickly ushering in legislation to strip the power to fill Senate vacancies from the Governor. In such an event, Democrats are not short of potential recruits to bring a bit more sanity to Connecticut’s Senatorial delegation in a special election. Which one would you like to see nominated?
let Republicans have back control of the Senate and let them share the 20% congressional approval rating with Democrats.
Of Dems the obvious answer is Dick Blumenthal. He was considered the likely appointment for Lieberman if Joe won the VP in 2000. John Larson is also another possibility
Clearly you haven’t seen our super majority in action! Last session the Senate vacancy legislation never came up for a vote.
I think Rell would probably fill a vacancy Rob Simmons or Nancy Johnson. I also don’t put much stock in the Lieberman rumor, but I’ve been known to be wrong before.
I say, it's John Rowland time. He's tanned, rested, and ready!
(I doubt Lieberman's going to be appointed Attorney General. My prediction is Paul Clement serves as AG for the rest of Bush's term.)
I’d be really surprised if Rob Simmons wasn’t appointed in this situation.
As for Democrats – If Blumenthal is focused on being governor, what about Susn Bysiewicz? Or maybe even Ned Lamont?
With all the speculation about who Jodi Rell would appoint, don’t forget that many states appoint replacements which their party was elected from.
Lieberman is neither a Democrat nor Republican; he was elected under the Connecticut for Lieberman Party. We at the CFL Party nominate our own officers: John Orman, Jonathan Kantrowitz and Susan Henshaw as Lieberman’s replacement.
I doubt Holy Joe will become AG and assume there is no special legislation passed to require a democrat be appointed.
So my question: If Joe becomes AG and an appointment made, does the appointee serve the whole term or is there a special election? When? If 2008, I could live with it.
1-up!!!
Republicans would almost certainly lose the Senate in 2008 anyway. This way Republicans will have to stop saying the Democrats are the reason that Congressional approval is so low and they will have to take responsibility as well.
General candidate. But I think either Dan Malloy or Don Williams would be a favorite over him and, although they say he’s running for gov., if Blumenthal ran he’d win pretty easily.
For Rell, not us. Simmons is by far the strongest Republican available and he could make a statewide race competetive. I bet Bush appoints Lieberman just to get the Senate back in GOP hands.
“Sec. 9-211. United States senator; vacancy. In case of a vacancy in the office of senator in Congress, the Governor is empowered to fill such vacancy by appointment as herein provided. If such vacancy occurs one hundred fifty or more days prior to a state election, the appointee shall serve until the third day of January following such election, and at such election there shall be elected a senator in Congress to serve for the remaining portion, if any, of the term vacated. If such vacancy occurs within less than one hundred fifty days of a state election and the term vacated does not expire on the third day of January following such election, the appointee shall serve until the third day of January following the next such election but one, and at such next election but one there shall be elected a senator in Congress to serve for the remaining portion, if any, of the term vacated. If such vacancy occurs within less than one hundred fifty days of a state election and the term vacated expires on the third day of January following, the appointee shall serve until such third day of January.” from Connecticut Statutes http://search.cga.st…
Joe will be appointed and confirmed. He will support the neocon agenda in the mid east, the Senate, amd against the American people, just like he did against the people of CT against Lamont. Rell will appoint Johnson or Simmons to complete this disaster, and off to invading and occupying Iran we will go, with further suppressions if not eliminations of US civil rights to be enforced by Lieberman.
Of course, if the people speak up in masse, this can be avoided, but where are they so far?