Judge Rules Illinois Senate Winner Will Take Office During Lame Duck Session, Not In January

Come on-- give it up for Mark Kirk. He's not that much of a RINO; he supported up some global warming nonsense (as did Newt Gingrich, and as do almost all Republicans) but the guy's walked away from that.

He's from Illinois. Like the fourth or fifth bluest state. Running for President Present's old seat/presidential launching pad. Has to be a little give there, right?

A judge has ruled that seat must be filled immediately after the election, in the lame-duck session, and not just in January.

Illinois voters will cast two votes for U.S. Senate on Nov. 2 — one for a senator who will serve 60 days and the other for one who will serve a six-year term — under an order issued Thursday by Gov. Pat Quinn as required by the federal courts.

Yet to be finalized is who the candidates will be for the short-term vacancy that falls between Nov. 3, the day after the election, and Jan. 3, when the new Congress is inaugurated. However, a federal judge overseeing the matter indicated Thursday that appointed U.S. Sen. Roland Burris won’t be eligible for the special election to finish out the term of the seat once held by President Barack Obama.

U.S. District Judge John F. Grady said he is prepared to issue a formal ruling in the next few days that would automatically place on the ballot major party contenders who won nomination in the Feb. 2 primary as candidates for the short-term vacancy. That means Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, Republican Mark Kirk and Green Party candidate LeAlan Jones would appear twice for election.

Given that there are rumblings that the Democrats will attempt to ram through a host of very unpopular, very liberal laws through the lame-duck session -- with their last breath, they spit at thee; from Hell's heart, they stab at thee -- it would be nice to have one more Republican in the Senate for this dangerous period.

By the way, the big scandal with Kirk is that he claimed that he had been awarded the honor of intelligence officer of the year for his work in Kosovo. The actual fact is that his unit had been awarded unit of the year, so, like, supposedly, he's a big fat liar like Blumenthal of Connecticut. He did get the award, but so did the other members of his team.

Really? Sure, a little extra shine on the resume, but seems to me to be a pretty small exaggeration, and really just a simplified way of saying "I got the award." He did. So did some other guys, but he got it too.

posted by Ace at 01:13 PM

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