The Phoenix

Speculation heats up on Senate succession

Jack Reed's participation in Barack Obama's trip to Afghanistan and Iraq has fueled resumed speculation about whether Rhode Island's senior senator will take a post in a new Democratic administration.

The senator has steadily disavowed any interest in such a place.

Yet Dan Yorke is using the prominent photo of Reed and Obama, published on the front of today's ProJo, as a peg for discussing succession.

In the last legislative session, Senator Paul Jabour and Representative David Segal led an effort to take the succession choice away from the governor:

Legislation sponsored by Jabour and state Representative David Segal (D-Providence) would require that a special election be held to fill US Senate vacancies, unless such a situation happened after July 1 of an election year. The vacancy in that instance would be filled through the normal election cycle.

In a statement, Segal says, “In the last 100 years, 151 US senators have take office without being elected. Incumbency affords great electoral advantages, and it is exceedingly likely that once appointed to office, a senator would readily achieve reelection. The only legitimate vehicle for ascension to a body as powerful as the Senate is popular support — only the passage of this legislation would ensure that the electorate determines its representative.”

Adds Jabour, “Here in Rhode Island, we have legitimate cause for concern about this issue, since Senator Jack Reed is a strong candidate for a Cabinet appointment. If that were to occur, allowing voters to choose a replacement would be a much more democratic avenue than having one chosen solely by the governor. Regardless of whether the governor is a Democrat or a Republican, he or she shouldn’t have the only vote in choosing who will represent our state in the US Senate.”

You think we would have heard if anything had happened with this.

Published Jul 21 2008, 02:58 PM by Ian Donnis

L. E. Fant said:

I would love to get Segal and Jabour on a lie detector and ask if they would have submitted the legislation if a Democrat were in the Governor's office right now. Methinks no.

July 23, 2008 12:44 PM
Chris Barnett said:

The Secretary of State's office researched the succession question. When there on vacancies in the U.S. Senate, state law gives the Governor the authority to make a "temporary appointment" to the seat. The Governor does not need the advice and consent of the state Senate or any other body. The last person appointed to a vacancy in the U.S. Senate was Lincoln Chafee -- former Gov. Lincoln Almond appointed him following his father's death in the fall of 1999.

Temporary appointees serve until the next general election, when there will be an election to fill the balance of the seat's term. A temporary appointee may run for the seat (as Lincoln Chafee did in 2000).

Article I, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution sets forth three qualifications for senators: each senator must be at least 30 years old, must have been a citizen of the United States for at least the past nine years and must be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they seek to represent.

July 24, 2008 11:16 AM