Former Aide to Replace Ted Kennedy in U.S. Senate

Paul G. Kirk, Jr., a longtime friend of recently deceased Senator Ted Kennedy, has been named as Kennedy’s replacement in the U.S. Senate, and will begin his term trying to carry on his friend’s legacy by working to pass a health care reform bill. Kirk, who is 71 years old, was chosen by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to hold the seat left by Kennedy until a special election can be held on January 19. Kirk, who is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has already noted that he would not run in that election, meaning his term in the Senate is to be a short one.

The announcement of Kirk’s temporary ascendancy to the Senate came even as Republicans in Massachusetts tried via legal efforts to stop Kirk from being sworn in, but state Democrats, who have a vast majority in the state legislature, altered their state’s succession law in time for Kirk to be chosen by the governor to take the post. Patrick intimated that Kirk would work for Massachusetts and country on issues like health care reform, economic recovery, financial regulation and climate change. Said Patrick, "In all these and other ways, Congress is debating our future – right now. The issues before Congress and the nation are simply too important to Massachusetts for us to be one voice short."

Said Kirk of his appointment, "It’s certainly nothing I imagined, but it would be my highest honor as well." Unfortunately, the story of Kennedy’s friend taking is place is not all happy. Democrats in 2004 revoked then-governor Mitt Romney’s power to appoint an interim senator when John Kerry ran for president because they didn’t wish to see a Republican governor appoint a senator. With a Democrat in the governor’s mansion, however, Democrats again moved to flip flop on the issue so that Democratic Governor Patrick could appoint a Democrat to the post.