The purpose of this diary is to put some contact focus on our 6 new newly-elected in 2008 Dem Senators, who WILL vote this Tuesday Nov. 18th by secret ballot on whether or not Lieberman gets to remain chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
I am putting some contact focus on these 6 new Dem senators (their contact info is below) via this diary, because these 6 new Dem senators have NOT appeared on the contact lists making the rounds here, but yet they could as a new 6-vote-block constitute the critical swing vote on stripping Lieberman of his HS chairmanship, because our 6 new Dem Senators may ALL be inclined to cast their vote in secret to strip Lieberman of his HS chairmanship!
Also, I want to clear up what seems to be some confusion here as to how our 6 new Dem Senators (Mark Warner, Kay Hagan, Mark Udall, Jeanne Shaheen, Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall) even get to vote next week on Lieberman, since they will not be officially sworn in as members of Congress until January 2009.
From the Huffington Post:
A Senate aide explains that the issue will be decided by "New Congress, new caucus, new members," meaning that the incoming class will have a voice in deciding Lieberman's fate but not the president or vice president elect.
The reason why our 6 new Dem Senators will get to vote next week on whether or not Lieberman is to be stripped of his Homeland Security Committee chairmanship is because the meeting & vote next week about Lieberman is not an official Senate vote of the entire Senate, but is rather just a private meeting & vote of the Senate Democratic Caucus. Think of this meeting & vote next week about Lieberman as a sort of big private exclusive lunch meeting of just the Senate Democratic Caucus. Our 6 new Dem Senators do not need to be sworn-in members of the Senate in order to participate in the meeting & vote next week, because this meeting & vote next week will not be official Senate business.
The voting participants in the private meeting & secret ballot vote on Tuesday of next week about Lieberman will consist of any and every Democrat who will be a Senate member of the new Congress next year. That is why our 6 new Dem Senators will be at this meeting & vote next week, and why Obama & Biden will not be.
This block of our 6 new Dem Senators may all be inclined to cast their vote in secret to strip Lieberman of his HS chairmanship, because:
1.) Our 6 new Dem Senators are not yet members of the Wash. DC Senatorial good ol' boys club, and our 6 new Dem Senators do not owe any chits to Lieberman, unlike the old foagie Inouye/Dodd-type pro-Lieberman Dem Senators;
2.) Having had to actually run in 2008 against the McCain/Palin/Lieberman repub top of the ticket, our 6 new Dem Senators may be more than a little pissed at Lieberman, and remember, this is a secret ballot vote, so no one will know how they voted.
I believe that this block of our 6 new Dem Senators will approach next week's Lieberman chairmanship strip vote as honest neutral brokers who will make their voting decisions based on the degree to which Joe Lieberman has been disloyal to the entire Dem party and has been disloyal to the entire 2008 Dem candidate ticket, which was pretty disloyal.
Do not think for a minute that this is now a done deal in favor of Lieberman keeping his HS chairmanship; if it was such a done deal, then why are Bayh and Dodd running around with their hair on fire, trying to save Lieberman's poor sorry ass?
Kossacks need to call (or email) all six of our new Dem Senators by this Monday, in advance of Tuesday's vote, and ask them nicely to please vote next week to strip Lieberman of his Homeland Security Committee Chairmanship, for whatever reasons you would like to cite (there are so many!) My own stated reason to this particular block of senators will be short and to the point, that Lieberman has failed to do an adequate job as Homeland Security Committee Chairman, and must thus be fired from that job, just as any incompetent person would be.
Here is another good reason that can be stated to our 6 new Dem Senators:
Lieberman Has Revealed Beliefs And Values Inconsistent With The Democratic Party
Here is the phone/email contact info for all six of our new Dem Senators; note that they want to hear from you, especially if you are a constituent in their particular state.
For example, Mark Warner's website says:
We want to hear from you. Send Senator-elect Warner a note with your thoughts or ideas as he prepares to transition into the U.S. Senate.
(PS: Don't ask them how they will vote on Lieberman, because it will be a secret ballot.)
1.) Mark Warner, Virginia: email link | (703) 740-5100
2.) Kay Hagan, North Carolina: email link | (336) 617-7416
3.) Mark Udall, Colorado: email link | (303) 820-2008
4.) Jeanne Shaheen, New Hampshire: email link | (603) 647-2008
5.) Jeff Merkley, Oregon: campaign@jeffmerkley.com | 503-274-4439
6.) Tom Udall, New Mexico: email link | (202) 225-6190