After fifty-one years in the Senate and six years in the House, Robert Byrd, our longest serving member of Congress, has died. Because of his longevity, Sen. Byrd embodied the changes and evolution of the Democratic Party. Elected as a New Deal conservative Democrat, he is probably still most famous for his energetic opposition to equal rights for black Americans. He once formed a Ku Klux Klan klavern and was elected its leader. He filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for fourteen hours. Yet, he voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary.
Mr. Byrd’s perspective on the world changed over the years. He filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act and supported the Vietnam War only to come to back civil rights measures and criticize the Iraq war. Rating his voting record in 1964, Americans for Democratic Action, the liberal lobbying group, found that his views and the organization’s were aligned only 16 percent of the time. In 2005, he got an A.D.A. rating of 95.
Byrd served as Senate Majority Leader during the Carter administration and the last years of the Reagan administration. He is almost solely responsible for building the modern West Virginia through his mastery of the appropriations process. Known as the ‘King of Pork,’ he was never apologetic about bringing home the bacon. He was also the unofficial Senate historian and a self-educated scholar of the Classics.
Because West Virginia has a Democratic governor, we will not lose this seat. At least, we will not lose it immediately. Nate Silver explains:
Byrd’s current term expires on January 3, 2013. Under West Virginia state law on handling Senate vacancies, “if the vacancy occurs less than two years and six months before the end of the term, the Governor appoints someone to fill the unexpired term and there is no election”. Otherwise, Manchin would appoint an interim replacement, and an special election would be held in November to determine who held the seat in 2011 and 2012.
In other words, we are within a week of the threshold established by West Virginia law. If a vacancy were to be declared on July 3rd or later, there would not be an election to replace Byrd until 2012. If it were to occur earlier, there could potentially be an election later this year, although there might be some ambiguities arising from precisely when and how the vacancy were declared.
I don’t think there is any law compelling Governor Manchin to declare a vacancy in the next week, but I haven’t reviewed the legislation to be sure of that.
But that’s for tomorrow. Today, let’s remember a faithful servant at his best.
Wow. Byrd’s mother died in the influenza epidemic of 1917.
This is interesting.
From what I gathered, Governor Manchin actually has a lot of discretion on determining when to actually declare the vacancy, and there’s a strong possibility that he’ll just wait until after July 3 to declare the vacancy.
Bingo!! And it would out Republicans in a tight spot were they to complain.
How so?
Definitely. He should appoint himself.
Governors who appoint themselves to unexpired Senate terms have a bad habit of not being re-elected.
See for example Donald Russell of SC who appointed himself to fill Olin D. Johnston’s unexpired term in 1965.
He’s said in the past he won’t appoint himself to the seat.
I can’t think of anyone else in politics who made a journey like Byrd’s. It’s amazing that someone can grow and learn and radically change while still holding onto the best of his core principles — in Byrd’s case, his fierce protectiveness of the Constitution as he saw it.
There’s no point trying to overlook his days as a really bad guy, but the rest of his long life made the case for the value of forgiveness and the possibility of redemption.
He was a truly an iconic Senator, and more importantly, seemingly a good human being. It is very hard to ask forgiveness and change your ways, especially in the public eye.
How sad and touching that both Byrd and Kennedy passed during the same Congress.
Here’s a guy who spent decades trying to atone for his public sins by truly trying to make things right.
Having said that, we will miss his vote as well. BooMan, do you still think the Dems can beat a GOP filibuster on FinReg without Byrd’s vote?
yes.
RIP Robert Byrd. You were a good man and showed it because you tried to embrace justice even if you did not always succeed.
I wish you had lived another week, but if you were in great pain, I am glad your passing was swift and hope you are at peace as dust or in the afterlife you desire.
I don’t like politicians, as a rule. Even the good ones are usually deeply compromised individuals, and the same is true for Byrd.
That said, i respected his strong opposition to the Bush administration, but honestly, i prefer to remember Byrd the fiddle player.
of all the musical senators, he’s the only one that had any real talent.