Ruining it for the Other Governors
December 11th, 2008 by Nick SaintSteve Chapman voices a suddenly common complaint about governors appointing replacement Senators:
Okay, so it’s obvious we don’t want Rod Blagojevich choosing a replacement to fill Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat. But is it obvious we want any governor to have that power?
Of all the things a governor has the authority to do, this is the one that reeks most of King George III. One senator, Dick Durbin, holds his office because the people of Illinois voted for him. The other, to be named later, would hold his or hers just because the governor said so. Neither the legislature nor the courts nor the voters have any role.
I don’t have strong feelings about how Senators should be replaced, but this is simply untrue. Lots of public offices are filled via appointment, and there’s nothing undemocratic about it. The voters did have a role: they elected Blagojevitch. Which shows you what they know.
(h/t Appel)
December 17th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
[...] thinking about this issue is that I don’t see what the big deal is. First of all, as Akhbar points out, it’s not like appointments are anomalous. Here he is talking about Blago before the scandal [...]