As everybody knows, there is going to be a big race for the open Senate seat in New Jersey. Tom Kean Jr. will be the GOP's choice, but Gov. Jon Corzine appointed U.S. Rep. Robert Menendez to fill his Senate seat, which is up for election this year. Now everybody is worried about the Senate seat, but what exactly happened to Menendez's seat in the House? Hold on, you're going to be stunned. This from
The Jersey Journal:
One of the most solidly Democratic congressional districts in the country is now being run by a former assistant to Republican Speaker Dennis J. Hastert.
Karen L. Haas, the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, will supervise the staff of former Rep. Robert Menendez - who was sworn in yesterday to fill Gov. Jon Corzine's vacant Senate seat - in his 13th District offices in Jersey City and Union City.
OK, so Menendez's seat is up in 2006 also. Why is the House rules so different from the Senate? Why can't Corzine fill Menendez's House seat also?
This is the best we can do:
The congressional seat will remain vacant unless Gov. Jon Corzine calls for a special election. In that case, the interim representative would serve just a few months, until the regular election in November.
The story does not say whether an election will be held. It doesn't look like it. In a situation like this, an appointment is the only choice. In this story, staffers are referring to it as as "non-voting" office. But doesn't this mean the Fighting 13th District of New Jersey will have no representative in Congress, Does this mean they will become the non-fighting 13th? Oh, the Colbert Report needs to get on this, pronto.
And I don't trust the Repubicans, especially somebody from Hastert's office, with running this as a "non-voting" office. The temptation will be too great to pull political shenanigans. This is obsured and obscene. As a Jersey resident, I have enough damned Republicans without them taking over empty offices. What the hell kind of government is this?