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| Sen. Kirk Must Step Down; Brown Election To Be Certified Thursday |
| 2010-02-04 |
| In a previous post on Big Government, I questioned why Senator Paul Kirk has not stepped down as the Senator from Massachusetts, as he should have on January 19th. Today, the attorney for Senator-elect Scott Brown stated in a letter Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick that Brown wanted the results of the January 19 election certified by 11 a.m. Thursday, so they could be forwarded to U.S. Senate officials for immediate action. Governor Patrick's office also issued this statement via email today: As the Lieutenant Governor stated earlier today, the Governor will convene the Governor's Council at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow morning and certify the results. This will ensure that Senator-elect Brown's request to receive the final paperwork by 11:00 a.m. tomorrow is fulfilled.This stunning move by Brown and fulfillment by the governor's office forces Kirk to resign his seat--presenting problems for the Democrats as they move forward with the current Senate schedule, which includes the controversial M. Patricia Smith nomination. This reversal comes days after several inquiries with the Brown campaign, in addition to Senator Mitch McConnell's office, as to why interim Senator Paul Kirk is still voting on legislation--providing the 60th vote in some cases--and preserving the Democrat supermajority in Congress. I explained the Senate rules and customary application, including: Many states limit the term of office for interim senators to the date set for the special election. In these cases, the term of the interim senator expires immediately upon the election of the popularly chosen successor, who serves the balance of the Senate term, whether it is a few weeks or several years.Ignoring Senate tradition in order to prolong the power of a 60-vote supermajority, the Democrats continued to abuse their power and allowed Kirk to vote, passing controversial legislation, including raising the debt ceiling and the vote on cloture for M. Patricia Smith, to be Solicitor for the Department of Labor. The GOP has held up Smith's vote due to contradictions in her Senate testimony; Kirk provided the 60th vote yet again. GOP sources in the Senate told me that they didn't press the timeline of Brown's swearing due to recent problems with seating Senator Roland Burris and Senator Al Franken. However, the issues surrounding Burris were self-inflicted by the Democrats, while the Franken controversy continued for months through a recount until resolved by the courts. (Lest we forget Franken trailed Coleman by 725 votes on election night.) The GOP falsely equates the Franken election and his requirement of an election certificate to the Brown election, which was a clean win. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #6 tu, the stars were aligned and the Dems were complacent. While it's not IMPOSSIBLE for him to be re-elected, I find it highly unlikely, even if he does an outstanding job. Massachussetts is just too liberal for him to win against a halfway competently run campaign and an opponent who doesn't look like a centipede putting its feet in its mouth. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-02-04 15:59 |
| #5 What makes you think he won't be reelected, Glenmore? I'd like to see what kinda job he does first. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-02-04 15:49 |
| #4 ....and retention of any campaign contributions. IIRC it's administratively converted to personal assets and subject to taxation, if not avoiding other loopholes well hidden by our civil 'servants'. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-02-04 11:48 |
| #3 Brown's election was just to finish Kennedy's last term, and he won't be re-elected, so he won't make the five years and won't qualify for pension benefits. All he'll get is the $174k plus whatever influence he can acquire. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2010-02-04 08:07 |
| #2 Salary and benefits The annual salary of each senator, as of 2009, is $174,000; the President pro tempore and party leaders receive $193,400. In June 2003, at least 40 of the then-senators were millionaires. Along with earning salaries, senators receive retirement and health benefits that are identical to other federal employees, and are fully vested after five years of service. Senators are covered by the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS). As it is for federal employees, congressional retirement is funded through taxes and the participants' contributions. Under FERS, senators contribute 1.3% of their salary into the FERS retirement plan and pay 6.2% of their salary in Social Security taxes. The amount of a senator's pension depends on the years of service and the average of the highest 3 years of his or her salary. The starting amount of a senator's retirement annuity may not exceed 80% of his or her final salary. Members of Congress are eligible for a pension at age 62 if they have completed at least five years of service. They are eligible for a pension at age 50 if they have completed 20 years of service, or at any age after completing 25 years of service. The amount of the pension depends on years of service and the average of the highest three years of salary. By law, the starting amount of a memberÂ’s retirement annuity may not exceed 80 percent of his or her final salary. As of October 1, 2000, the average annual pension for members of Congress who have retired under CSRS is $52,464, and $46,932 for retirees under FERS-only or both FERS/CSRS. |
| Posted by: Omineper the Imposter8467 2010-02-04 06:38 |
| #1 Does Kirk get a Senator's lifetime pension and all the other perks now? |
| Posted by: gorb 2010-02-04 02:54 |