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Senior Senator Ted Kennedy
As Senator Ted Kennedy battles the horrific disease of cancer, we can be sure that he is receiving the best healthcare available on the planet right here in America – otherwise, there can be little doubt that he would be traveling outside of the United States for treatment. However, regardless of illness, does the Senator have the right to change election law just to avoid it?
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), forwarded a letter (PDF format) to Massachusetts state lawmakers which asked them to change a portion of state election laws which mandates that state senators must be elected. In the letter, the Senator, who is currently suffering from brain cancer, asks state legislators to choose an interim replacement for his Senate seat in case he is unable to fulfill his obligation.
The Massachusetts succession law amended in 2004 states that any United States Senate seat that becomes available within the state, must be filled through a special election. It further provides that the special election occur no less than 145 days after the seat becomes available. Senator Kennedy’s argument is that this would leave the state with only one senator for months.
Although his letter does not directly state such, Kennedy's letter appears to be an effort to maintain Democrat ownership of his seat for key votes on healthcare reform. Not surprising, as Senator Kennedy, known for extraordinary strategic manipulation, is a primary proponent healthcare reform, and also author of one proposal currently under debate.
The Boston Globe broke the story relaying in their article that Senator Kennedy expressed that, "I strongly support that law and the principle that the people should elect their senator. I also believe it is vital for this Commonwealth to have two voices speaking for the needs of its citizens and two votes in the Senate during the approximately five months between a vacancy and an election."
With Kennedy in his seat, Democrats hold a 20 vote margin in the chamber and with a 60/40 split, Republicans while not being able to stop the legislation alone, would be able to stymie the problem riddled bill with defection of as little as 11 votes.
The hypocrisy here is that in 2004 it was Senator Kennedy himself who had the Massachusetts election law amended to prohibit interim senate appointments. Kennedy offered the amendment due to the then Democratic Senator John Kerry’s run for president. Had Kerry won, Governor Mitt Romney would have had the option of filling the seat with a Republican successor, but now that a Democrat is governor of the state, the Democrat legend knows that to retain a Democratic representation in the seat, he must risk public reprise and ask that the law be changed back.
Hypocrisy is the least of Kennedy’s problems though, as the Senator’s moral and ethical behavior, patriotism and support for America, has been questioned by many. Some point to the Chappaquiddick incident where after a party, Kennedy ran his car off a bridge and into a lake near Chappaquiddick Island. Mary Jo Kopechne, his passenger, was subsequently found drowned in the car and Kennedy did not report the accident for over 9 hours - a crime that today would have earned him a life sentence.
Others question his loyalty to America, liberty and our capitalistic system. On January 4th, 1995, in the United Sates Senate, world renowned economist Milton Friedman was testifying, before the Senate Judiciary Committee in support of a national constitutional amendment for a balanced budget. Kennedy argued that a requirement for a balanced budget would restrict the federal government's power and its ability to spend and that Washington's role was to, as Kennedy put it, “more fairly and equitably distribute wealth, goods and services.”
Mr. Friedman replied, "Senator, socialism hasn't worked once in 6,000 years of recorded history, why won't you give up on it?" To which Senator Kennedy answered, "It hasn't worked in 6,000 years of recorded history because it didn't have me to run it."
His admited love for socialism even leads some to question whether he was a party to treason. Political science professor at Grove City College, Paul Kengor has researched these accusations and discovered evidential proof showing implicating Kennedy directly. In May 1983, Kennedy directed friend and associate, Senator John Tunney to meet with the Soviet KGB with information designed to protect the Kremlin.
Tunney was to tell the KGB to alert Soviet Communist Party General Secretary Yuri Andropov that Kennedy believed then President Ronald Reagan was a threat, possibly a military one, to the Soviet Union. Because of his worry over Reagan’s intentions, he offered to Andropov, through Tunney, to coordinate American media with the aim of undermining the President with the electorate.
In his book, “The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism,” Dr. Kengor points to a recently discovered memo dated May 14, 1983, sent from Viktor Chebrikov, head of the KGB, to General Secretary Andropov.
In the memo, Chebrikov told Andropov of Kennedy’s offer, made through Senator Tunney, to form a partnership to undermine Reagan’s foreign policy and his re-election efforts.
The memo alleged that Kennedy proposed that Andropov would make a direct appeal to the American public via television interviews that would be set up in cooperation with the major networks. Kennedy’s plan never materialized due to the sudden death of Andropov and the ascendance of Mikhail Gorbachev.
Even with hard evidence to support Dr. Kengor, some are not too willing to accept that the youngest brother of John F. Kennedy could be a communist sympathizer, but if policy is any indication, the Senior Senator has been shaping progressive, social legislation for years.
Anthony Coley, a Kennedy spokesman, said the release of the Kennedy’s letter about changing Massachusetts election law, was not occasioned by any change in the senator's health. And although many of his fellow Senators have spoken with him in recent weeks, he did not appear at the funeral last week of his sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
The senior Senator from Massachusetts most is certainly leveraging his political clout to change the rules once again to suit his needs. I don’t think that many would question that the request shows hypocrisy, ethical errors and highlights politics at it's worst.
But, regardless of how you see Senator Kennedy, American hero, Mary Jo Kopechne’s personal grim reaper, or communist sympathizer, we can all agree that no-one deserves what he is going through and many of our prayers, including mine, are with him.
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