State of emergency? We're living in it

Article 9-28-09

Bay State succeeds interim for Kennedy's Seat

by Howie Carr
DNN Staff - EXCLUSIVE!
Monday, Sep. 28, 2009

Forget the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. We are now the Banana Republic of Massachusetts.

That’s not original, but it’s truer than ever. Laws? We don’t need no stinkin’ laws.

“First we shred the rules,” said Rep. Brad Jones, the House Republican leader. “Now we shred the Constitution.”

Here’s how it’s supposed to work. If the Legislature wants a bill to become law immediately, they have to attach what’s called an “emergency preamble.” It takes a two-thirds vote to pass such a preamble. Otherwise, the bill becomes law in 90 days.

So Wednesday, the Legislature approved Ted Kennedy’s deathbed wish to repeal his 2004 nondeathbed wish to take away a (Republican) governor’s power to appoint an interim senator. See, now that the governor is a Democrat, the law is an “abomination.”

The vote to change Teddy’s law for Teddy was 24-16 in the Senate, 95-57 in the House. That’s not two-thirds. But pay no attention to that pesky Constitution. We’ll just have the governor decide it’s an “emergency.” So much for separation of powers.

I don’t care how many times Mitt Romney used this maneuver, it’s still wrong.

Again the larger question: What exactly was the “emergency?”

Teddy missed 97 percent of the roll calls in the Senate before his death this year. None of the moonbats were braying about an emergency. Apparently it was such a nonissue that Teddy himself never considered resigning - even though once he knew he was dying, he could have sent in a letter saying his resignation would be effective in five months.

Ever hear of Sen. Susan Fargo? On Sept. 10 she sent a letter to a constituent of hers in Waltham saying she wouldn’t vote to change the law - “in the interest of fairness and good policy, any change should be considered only after the current special election process has been completed.”

Then, 12 days later, she voted to change the law. So much for fairness and good policy.

But then, this is the same solon who voted in May to increase the state sales tax, then penned an op-ed piece in the Lowell Sun earlier this month denouncing the hike, while neglecting to mention that she was for the increase before she was against it.

This is your one-party state, folks. It’s called democracy, where the people get exactly the government they deserve.

File a lawsuit to stop the appointment? Are you kidding? The judiciary in this state is at least as corrupt as the Legislature. They don’t have time for such frivolous issues. The SJC’s got bigger fish to fry - one of the good old boys, ex-Sen. Jim Marzilli, is asking them to throw out one of the counts in his indictment - assault to commit a crime, indecent assault.

The argument by the perv in the Prius is that there is no “indecent assault” law here in the Banana Republic. Anyone care to bet against the well-connected perv on this one?

Then there’s Chuck “Superfly” Turner, the indicted Boston city councilor. Caught on camera in a federal sting accepting cash, he got 52 percent of the votes Tuesday in his Roxbury district. You really showed The Man this time, Chuck!

Over in Cambridge, former Boston City Councilor Dave Scondras is holding a barbeque for political candidates Sunday. Nevermind that he was convicted in 2006 of enticement of someone he thought was a 15-year-old boy. Wonder if Deval will make it to the convicted hack’s barbeque this year, the way he has in the past.

And now we have a new senator , whose greatest service to the Kennedys came in 1994, when at Faneuil Hall debate against Mitt Romney, he arranged for the candidates to use a giant podium, the better to hide his master’s enormous girth from the TV audience. For this, he is rewarded with a Senate seat.

Will the last taxpayer leaving the Banana Republic please turn out the lights?