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NES Member
Massachusetts Legislature to Consider Senate-Packing Scheme
-- Radicals still trying to pass anti-gun health care bill
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Remember the anti-gun socialized medicine bill which would take all your gun-related health information and put it in a federal database -- trollable by the BATFE?
That bill hasn't been doing so well lately public relations-wise, has it? In fact, so insistent has been Nancy Pelosi in retaining every crazy liberal detail that not one Republican is prepared to sign off on the scheme -- not one.
That makes the seat held by the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy potentially decisive in determining whether that anti-gun bill receives the 60 votes necessary to break a filibuster in the U.S. Senate.
But there's a problem: Back in 2004, in order to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a successor to fill the vacated seat of "President" John Kerry, the Massachusetts legislature changed Massachusetts law.
A vacated Senate seat like Kennedy's now can be filled only by a special election. And neither Governor Romney nor any governor is allowed to appoint a "caretaker" senator in the interim.
"Only the people should be able to fill something as important as a U.S. Senate seat," the Beacon Hill hacks sanctimoniously proclaimed.
Opponents of changing the law in 2004 argued that a special election would cost too much money. To that, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. William Straus said that such thinking was characteristic of a "totalitarian country" and intoned that "one person, whoever happens to be governor, will not make the decision for you."
But wait!
Now that Ted Kennedy's vote has become so important and Kennedy has passed on, the Beacon Hill solons want to change the rule back -- immediately -- for the fairly explicit purpose of affecting the outcome of the current legislative battle over health care.
Wildly unpopular Governor Deval Patrick would be re-empowered to appoint a "caretaker senator" who could then cast the deciding vote in favor of the anti-gun health care bill.
This latest scheme to pack the United States Senate with another anti-gun senator is blatantly evil, even by Massachusetts standards.
The initial hearing on this absurdity is tomorrow, so time is of the essence. Please act immediately.
ACTION: Contact your state representative and state senator. Ask them to oppose this unlawful and unconstitutional senate-packing scheme.
CONTACT INFORMATION: To determine your state representative and senator, please go to http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php and input your address information.
Then, cut-and-paste the email message below after locating your legislators' email addresses at:
House: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenuh.htm
Senate: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear
Please oppose the illegal and unconstitutional Senate-packing scheme being devised in order to fill the seat of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Back in 2004, in order to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a successor to fill the vacated seat of "President" John Kerry, the Massachusetts legislature changed Massachusetts law.
As such, a vacated Senate seat can be filled only by a special election. And neither Governor Patrick nor any governor is allowed to appoint an interim "caretaker" senator.
"Only the people should be able to fill something as important as a U.S. Senate seat," the legislature sanctimoniously proclaimed when the 2004 law was passed.
Okay. Fair enough. But some are now proposing to change the rule back because it has become "inconvenient" in view of the legislative exigencies of the moment. This is corrupt, even by Massachusetts standards.
The rule change blocking Republican Romney from appointing an interim senator in 2004 was a brazen exercise in crass political sleaze. But, the subsequent effort by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to sell a Senate seat did put gubernatorial appointments in a bit of a bad light.
To blatantly change the process just because it is expedient to do so would only shed more light on political corruption. Are we going to go through this every time a seat opens up? Leave the current law alone!
Sincerely,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to: http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm. Change of e-mail address may also be made at that location.
-- Radicals still trying to pass anti-gun health care bill
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Remember the anti-gun socialized medicine bill which would take all your gun-related health information and put it in a federal database -- trollable by the BATFE?
That bill hasn't been doing so well lately public relations-wise, has it? In fact, so insistent has been Nancy Pelosi in retaining every crazy liberal detail that not one Republican is prepared to sign off on the scheme -- not one.
That makes the seat held by the late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy potentially decisive in determining whether that anti-gun bill receives the 60 votes necessary to break a filibuster in the U.S. Senate.
But there's a problem: Back in 2004, in order to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a successor to fill the vacated seat of "President" John Kerry, the Massachusetts legislature changed Massachusetts law.
A vacated Senate seat like Kennedy's now can be filled only by a special election. And neither Governor Romney nor any governor is allowed to appoint a "caretaker" senator in the interim.
"Only the people should be able to fill something as important as a U.S. Senate seat," the Beacon Hill hacks sanctimoniously proclaimed.
Opponents of changing the law in 2004 argued that a special election would cost too much money. To that, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. William Straus said that such thinking was characteristic of a "totalitarian country" and intoned that "one person, whoever happens to be governor, will not make the decision for you."
But wait!
Now that Ted Kennedy's vote has become so important and Kennedy has passed on, the Beacon Hill solons want to change the rule back -- immediately -- for the fairly explicit purpose of affecting the outcome of the current legislative battle over health care.
Wildly unpopular Governor Deval Patrick would be re-empowered to appoint a "caretaker senator" who could then cast the deciding vote in favor of the anti-gun health care bill.
This latest scheme to pack the United States Senate with another anti-gun senator is blatantly evil, even by Massachusetts standards.
The initial hearing on this absurdity is tomorrow, so time is of the essence. Please act immediately.
ACTION: Contact your state representative and state senator. Ask them to oppose this unlawful and unconstitutional senate-packing scheme.
CONTACT INFORMATION: To determine your state representative and senator, please go to http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php and input your address information.
Then, cut-and-paste the email message below after locating your legislators' email addresses at:
House: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenuh.htm
Senate: http://www.mass.gov/legis/memmenus.htm
----- Pre-written letter -----
Dear
Please oppose the illegal and unconstitutional Senate-packing scheme being devised in order to fill the seat of Senator Ted Kennedy.
Back in 2004, in order to prevent then-Governor Mitt Romney from appointing a successor to fill the vacated seat of "President" John Kerry, the Massachusetts legislature changed Massachusetts law.
As such, a vacated Senate seat can be filled only by a special election. And neither Governor Patrick nor any governor is allowed to appoint an interim "caretaker" senator.
"Only the people should be able to fill something as important as a U.S. Senate seat," the legislature sanctimoniously proclaimed when the 2004 law was passed.
Okay. Fair enough. But some are now proposing to change the rule back because it has become "inconvenient" in view of the legislative exigencies of the moment. This is corrupt, even by Massachusetts standards.
The rule change blocking Republican Romney from appointing an interim senator in 2004 was a brazen exercise in crass political sleaze. But, the subsequent effort by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to sell a Senate seat did put gubernatorial appointments in a bit of a bad light.
To blatantly change the process just because it is expedient to do so would only shed more light on political corruption. Are we going to go through this every time a seat opens up? Leave the current law alone!
Sincerely,
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to: http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm. Change of e-mail address may also be made at that location.
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