The Lion and the Hare

It’s been said: “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

The year was 2004, a presidential election year. Massachusetts’ senator John Kerry was nominated by the Democratic Party as its candidate for President of the United States.

That year, Massachusetts had for a sitting Governor Mitt Romney, a Republican.

Afraid to lose Kerry’s senate seat (in case Mr. Kerry wins the presidential elections) to a republican appointee by Mitt Romney, legislators in Massachusetts, where Democrats hold super majorities, rewrote the succession law to strip away gubernatorial appointment and replaced it with a special election, despite the significant costs involved with a special election.

They argued that the democratic process is better served when the people decide on a successor. When the GOP requested to allow for an interim appointment till the special election takes place and its results are certified, they were rebuffed.

As we all know, President George W. Bush was re-elected for a second term and Mr. Kerry continued to serve the people of Massachusetts in the senate. So the entire issue went mute.

Fast-forward to 2008− another presidential election year. The Democratic Party won in a landslide taking control of federal legislative and executive branches. In the US Congress, Democrats expanded on their previous gains. In the US Senate they achieved a filibuster-proof majority! It was a Democratic trifecta!

Unfortunately, this same year, the late Senator Ted Kennedy (Democrat) was diagnosed with brain cancer. As 2009 progressed, Senator Kennedy’s medical situation deteriorated. In August, he sent a letter to the Massachusetts lawmakers urging them to change again the Commonwealth laws to give back to the sitting governor the ability to appoint his replacement in case his seat becomes vacant.

You see, the sitting governor in Massachusetts in 2009 is Mr. Deval Patrick, a Democrat. The Democratic leadership in Washington did not want to lose Mr. Kennedy’s vote and possibly face a Republican filibuster, not even for a short period of time. One way to ensure that, is by giving Mr. Patrick the ability to name Senator Kennedy’s successor.

Legislators in Massachusetts were therefore called upon again by their leadership in Washington to act and re-enable gubernatorial interim appointments.

I would like to think that it was a tough decision for them to make. After all, no one, not even politicians like to appear like hypocrites. With flagrant bias towards party interests, the new law passed and Mr. Paul Kirk (Democrat) was appointed in September as the interim senator for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Absolute power does corrupt absolutely, and it corrupts to the core! This episode did not sit well with many Massachusetts voters.

During the events leading up to the special elections, the hare was caught sleeping in the midst of the race. At the same time, the Spirit of America was awakened and Massachusetts voters made their voices heard loud and clear to their legislators, the leaders in Washington and indeed to the entire nation, giving the Lion’s, sorry, the people’s seat to a Republican, Mr. Scott Brown!

This is not a political speech. I am not favoring the election of one party representative over the other. It is a civic speech. I am asking everyone this year to take their party blinds off and take a serious look at the mounting challenges that this nation is and will continue to be facing till our politicians, from both sides of the aisle, seriously assume their civic responsibilities and work to serve our nation first, their states second and the people they represent third, before serving their respective parties.

Will this awakening in Massachusetts be short lived or will the people of this Commonwealth be the Spirit of America again? Will you vote in future elections based on party lines, or will you evaluate each candidate, what he or she stands for, how willing he or she is to work in a bipartisan manner and how effective he or she can be in solving our nation’s and Commonwealth’s daunting problems?


Contributed by Nabil Freij, 3Talkers, VP of Public Relations