Massachusetts Plans Interim Kennedy Seat Pick as Election Set

“This seems to me to be a nice and rather elegant compromise,” Patrick said at a press conference yesterday at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston. “It leaves in place and respects the current law. But it ensures the continuity of our representation.”

Allowing Patrick, a Democrat, to appoint an interim successor to Kennedy would preserve the party’s 60-vote control of the Senate, the minimum needed to end debate and force action on legislation. Health-care legislation is a top priority for President Barack Obama, as it was for Kennedy.

Appointing an interim senator is “the only way to make sure Massachusetts is fully represented until the voters of the state elect our next senator in January,” said Patrick. He declined to discuss names of a potential interim replacement and said he would seek “personal assurance” that his pick won’t run in the special election. Kennedy’s term runs through 2012.

Choosing someone to temporarily fill Kennedy’s seat requires a change in state law, which currently specifies only that a special election be held five months after a U.S. Senate vacancy occurs. A joint legislative committee has scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing on whether to change the law.

That’s eight days earlier than the Sept. 17 hearing date Democrats were considering last week. Democrats outnumber Republicans in the Massachusetts House 144 to 16 and 35 to 5 in the Senate.