The Watertown (NY) Daily Times reports that Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) have together managed to delay the Senate's appoval, expected to be a unanimous voice vote, of Rep. John McHugh (R-NY-23) to be President Obama's Secretary of the Army from this past Friday until September.
When the Senate confirmed a few dozen of President Barack Obama's nominees Friday before adjourning for August, the congressman's name was not among them.
Mr. McHugh and several other nominees appear to be caught in a dust-up with two senators from Kansas who oppose closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay and sending terrorism-related detainees to a high-security prison in that state.
The Republican lawmakers... registered their displeasure by objecting to confirming some nominees by unanimous consent.
[snip]
Two other nominees who shared Mr. McHugh's confirmation hearing, including one to be an Army undersecretary, also were put off on Friday.
So let me get this straight...
The two Republican Senators from Kansas are concerned enough about national security that they're willing to block Guantanamo Bay prisoners from going to a supermax prison, but to protest the move, they are willing let the jobs of both the Secretary AND Undersecretary of the Army go vacant for an additional month or more?
I see... To protect us from well-imprisoned terrorists, Brownback and Roberts are willing to decapitate the Army? After all these years of GOP hypocracy, I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Now, that alone would be bad enough, but there's more.
Since McHugh is still a Member of Congress until he resigns, Gov. Paterson (D-NY) can't officially call the Special Election to replace him, and because of Brownback and Roberts, Paterson can't make that call until after their August vacation recess ends.
The hope had been for a stand-alone Special Election in late September, but now it will have to wait:
Once the governor issues his proclamation, the election would have to be scheduled at least 30 days from that date, but no more than 40 days, according to the state Board of Elections.
Paterson could also choose not to call for a special election. In that case, as long as McHugh leaves his seat by Sept. 20, the seat would automatically come up for a vote with the general election Nov. 3.
Great. Upstate New Yorkers will have to wait for an additional two months to get effective representation in Congress thanks to two terrified Republican Senators.
I suppose the silver lining in all this is that it will give more time for the presumptive nominees of the NYS Republican Party, Dede Scozzafava, and NYS Conservative Party, Doug Hoffman, to snipe at each other, leaving room for the nominee of the NYS Democratic Party to slip into the seat once that nominee is chosen on Monday.
However it happens, there won't be much time for our nominee to raise funds, so I hope you'll consider throwing a few buck in their direction through the NYS Democratic Party's NY-23 ActBlue Page. Thanks for your support!