Lieutenant Governor Murray's Senate Seat Testimony

BOSTON – Wednesday, September 9, 2009 – This afternoon Lieutenant Governor Tim Murray testified before the Joint Committee on Election Laws on behalf of legislation that would allow an interim appointee to serve the next four months in the late Senator Ted Kennedy's seat until a special election, which will be held on January 19, 2010.

Below, read Lieutenant Governor Murray's testimony and Governor Patrick's letter to the committee:

Governor Deval Patrick
Letter to the Committee on Election Laws

Dear Chairman Kennedy and Chairman Moran,

I appreciate your willingness to hold this expedited hearing on a matter of urgent consideration, the continuity of representation of Massachusetts in the United States Senate. I wish could be present at the hearing myself today to convey my personal sense of the importance of this proposal. I hope you will accept this letter into the record by way of the Lieutenant Governor, and that you or any of the members of your Committee will feel free to call me if you want to discuss this further.

This matter is before us because of the untimely loss of Senator Edward Kennedy. I do not believe that any member of the Legislature, from either political party, could deny the profound impact that the Senator had on the people and the interests of Massachusetts in the United States Senate. Time after time, working with Senator John Kerry and all the members of the congressional delegation, Senator Kennedy delivered for Massachusetts on health care, public safety, education, justice issues, workers' needs and so much more. In addition to the personal loss many of us feel, his passing leaves a big practical void for the Commonwealth.

Compounding this loss is the fact that many of our vital interests are at stake in the Congress right now. The national health care debate is framed in large measure around the bipartisan model we developed here in Massachusetts. Congressional support for it is critical for us here, and the national implementation may contribute to our own ability here in Massachusetts to sustain our leadership. Beyond health care, support our continuing efforts in education reform, for job creation, for community policing in local communities, for a climate change bill (again modeled on our own), for infrastructure investment through the stimulus bill and the transportation reauthorization act, and for other key pieces of federal legislation will be debated and voted on in the coming weeks. While we can depend on John Kerry to protect the interests of Massachusetts on these key matters, it is also true that we will need a full complement of voices and votes in our Senatorial delegation.

I support the existing law that enables the people to elect their senator through a special election and do not advocate that we change it. Neither did Senator Kennedy. I have set the date for that election on January 19, 2010. Many candidates have already expressed their intention to run.

All I am urging is that you authorize the governor (any governor) to appoint someone to serve as interim senator for the five months between the creation of the vacancy and the time of a special election. That, as it happens, is when so much of that critical agenda will be up for debate and vote in Washington. If given this authority, will appoint someone who will make a personal commitment to me not to be a candidate in the upcoming special election.

I understand that a similar proposal was made and voted down some years ago. I also understand that some of the critics of the proposal today were proponents of a similar proposal then. Not having been in office then, I have no stake in the debate of that time. In this time, the proposal for appointment of an interim senator is sound.

As elected officials, our job, especially in times like these, is to look past partisan or parochial interests to the best interests of the Commonwealth. believe that is what the Senator's proposal seeks to do. That is why support it and urge respectfully your prompt and favorable action on it.

Lieutentant Governor Tim Murray
Testimony Before the Joint Committee on Election Laws

Chairman Kennedy, Chairman Moran, Members of the Committee:

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today in support of a change to existing law to fill a vacant seat in the United State Senate and to submit a letter from Governor Patrick who could not be here today.

As we know all to well, the loss of Senator Kennedy leaves a void not just in the hearts of people in Massachusetts, but in the United States Senate where he served his constituents and the good of the country for 47 years. While I am fully confident that Senator Kerry has and will continue to do his utmost in representing Massachusetts' interests, I am sincerely concerned that Massachusetts has gone from two voices and two advocates in the Senate to one. For this reason, I am respectfully asking that you pass legislation that would allow the Governor to, appoint an interim Senator, who would serve only until the January special election, to ensure we have two people fighting for Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate.

To be completely clear, I support our current law that has set a special election to fill the Senator's now vacant seat. It is critical that Massachusetts voters have the opportunity to choose their Senator and this will happen in January. But this means that Massachusetts will go without full representation for five months, five months too long when one considers all of the work Senator Kennedy and his staff undertook on a daily basis on our behalf.

While there are numerous reasons to ensure representation for this interim period, one of the most compelling is that of the needs of Massachusetts residents. Friends and neighbors from across the Commonwealth have long counted on the Senator and his office to help them address challenges encountered both inside and outside of government—from helping veterans get the benefits they deserve to assisting people who are eligible for Social Security to advocating on behalf of families who want to stay together in the United States. As a matter of fact, very recently an Ecuadorian mother and her 9 year old daughter came to the US for life-saving treatment for a form of Elephantiasis, a congenital malformation of her legs, a condition that causes tumors to grow to enormous sizes. The attending physicians say it is the worst case they have ever seen. Senator Kennedy and his office helped with their visas and continue to assist the mother with a special immigration status that allows her to stay in the US while her daughter continues to receive treatment. They need continued assistance. Assistance an interim Senator could provide.

Another pending case involves a widow from Billerica who has been trying to obtain Dependency and Indemnity Compensation from the Veterans' Administration since her husband's death several months ago. If approved, this money will enable her to remain in her current residence. The Senator's office has been assisting her with her application, and pressing the VA for an expeditious decision based on financial hardship. A determination has not yet been made. Another case that will need continued assistance.

While I am sure that Senator Kerry and his staff are more than willing to assist these hundreds of constituent needs, they also have high constituent caseload numbers. By not filling the Senate seat on an interim basis, we incur a 50% loss of manpower to work on these cases. We owe it to our constituents to ensure they get the services they need and, to be frank, which our tax dollars support.

Beyond the individual casework, the Senate will likely consider issues that will impact everyone in the Commonwealth now and in the future. Issues that impact many aspects of our lives like health care reform, climate change and education. In particular, they will consider issues that impact our wallets, yours and mine personally and the Commonwealth's, like transportation reauthorization where small changes in a formula can mean hundreds of millions of dollars for states like Massachusetts. Not to mention, the assistance the Senator's office offers to cities and towns, small businesses, schools, hospitals and non-profits in obtaining federal grants and appropriations—all of which continue over the course of these 5 months. These issues are too important to each and every one of us to enter into without full representation.

I respectfully ask the Legislature to pass legislation authorizing the Governor to make an immediate interim appointment to the United States Senate. This is the only way to ensure that Massachusetts is fully represented until the voters of the state elect their next Senator in January.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today.