#lautenberg

By Sunlen Miller @sunlenmiller Follow on Twitter

After a tearful and at times humorous funeral at a New York synagogue, the flag-draped casket of New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg has started the trip towards his final resting place.

Lautenberg’s…

U.S. Sen Frank Lautenberg died this morning at the age of 89 years old from complications of pneumonia.

He was born the child of two immigrant parents in Paterson and was the final member of Congress to have served in World War II. He was the oldest sitting senator.

As background to my last post, let's take a look at the history of recent Senatorial deaths and their replacements as appointed by  governors (info from this website & Wikipedia). Bottom line:

In every case,  the governor appointed a senator of the governor's party, except Wyoming 2007 where he was legally prohibited from doing so. 

In four cases, this meant that the new senator was of a different party from the deceased senator.

So the precedent would be for Christie to appoint a Republican to replace Lautenberg.

The details:

Ted Kennedy (D - MA), d. 2009. Governor Deval Patrick (D) appoints Paul Kirk (D) for a brief time until a special election, won by Scott Brown (R). 

Craig Thomas (R - WY), d. 2007. Governor David Freudenthal (D) appoints John Barrasso (R), in accordance with WY law (see previous post).

Paul Wellstone (D - MN), d. 2002. It was two weeks before he was a candidate for re-election. Governor Jesse Ventura (I) appoints Dean Barkley (I) for a brief time before the winner of that election (Norm Coleman (R)) takes office.

Paul Coverdell (R - GA), d. 2000. Governor Roy Barnes (D) appoints Zell Miller (D) until a special election in November 2000, won by Miller.

John Chafee (R - RI), d. 1999. Governor Lincoln Almond (R) appoints Lincoln Chafee (R; recently switched parties).

Quentin Burdick (D - ND), d. 1992. Governor George Sinner (D) appoints Jocelyn Burdick (D) for a brief time until a special election (won by Kent Conrad (D)). 

John Heinz (R - PA), d. 1991. Governor Bob Casey (D) appoints Harris Wofford (D) for a brief time until a special election (which Wofford won).

Spark Matsunaga (D - HI), d 1990. Governor John Waihee (D) appoints Daniel Akaka (D) for a brief time until a special election (which Akaka won). 

Edward Zorinsky (D - NE), d. 1987. Governor Kay Orr (R) appoints David Karnes (R) to replace him.

John East (R - NC), d 1986. Governor James Martin (R) appoints James Broyhill (R) for a brief time until a special election, won by Terry Sanford (D).

Henry Jackson (D - WA), d 1983. Governor John Spellman (R) appoints Daniel Evans (R) to replace him. 

Let's stop there.

I haven't considered cases of Senatorial resignations. I know that in recent cases (Obama, Biden, Clinton, Salazar), the governor appointed someone of his own party. But note that, if a president wants to appoint a senator to a cabinet or other post, he's likely to do so only in cases where the governor is of the president's party and will appoint someone of the same party. And if a senator resigns from office (DeMint, Lott), he's likely to do so only in cases where his governor is likely to appoint a replacement of the same party. So I assume party-switches resulting from a senator's resignation are pretty rare. 

OK, this comment will be in very bad taste, given that we all should be putting crass political considerations aside for the moment and taking the time to appreciate the life and contributions of a great American.

But here goes. NJ Gov Christie will almost certainly nominate a Republican to replace him, until a special election can be held. I remember that when Craig Thomas of WY passed away a few years ago, the Republican-dominated WY state legislature already had a law in place that said the governor (then a Democrat) had to choose his successor from three names proposed by the state Republican party. (He ended up choosing John Barrasso, who later won an election in his own right.)

And a few years before that, when Strom Thurmond was nearing his end, Republicans in SC were pressuring that state's then Democratic governor to promise to appoint a Republican to replace Thurmond if he died or stepped down (in the event, he made it to the end of his term).

New Jersey's state legislature has a Democratic majority in both chambers, and has for a while, but apparently it didn't occur to anyone to go the Wyoming route. Even though the state had one Democratic senator in his 80s and another who always seems to be just barely escaping one scandal or another. Why?