Apparently one of the assurances that Arlen Specter got before breaking last month’s promise and jumping parties was that he’d keep his 28-year seniority in Congress. In other words, he’d get to leap ahead of other Dems on committees and would be essentially viewed as if he’s been a Democrat from the beginning. Well, other Democrats not consulted on the agreement aren’t so thrilled with Reid’s deal.
Several Democrats are furious with Reid for agreeing to let Specter keep the seniority accrued over more than 28 years as a Republican senator. That could allow him to leap past senior Democrats on powerful panels – including the Appropriations and Judiciary committees.
One senior Democratic lawmaker told The Hill that the Democratic Conference will vote against giving the longtime Pennsylvania Republican seniority over lawmakers such as Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) when they hold their organizational meeting after the 2010 election.
Specter was elected in 1980, and under his deal with Reid would jump ahead of all but a few Democrats when it comes time to dole out committee chairmanships and assignments.
“That’s his deal and not the caucus’s,” the lawmaker said of Reid’s agreement with Specter.
There’s a clusterfark waiting to happen. Specter would be in a position to not only take Harkin’s chairmanship at HHS, but he could possibly get the Appropriations slot — an extremely coveted position in Congress. Long-time Congressional Democrats are unlikely to accept that jump quietly and could revolt. That puts Reid in a bit of a, shall we say, odd position.
As Ed Morrissey notes, Democrats actually view this situation as them having let Specter into their caucus to save his rump. He was about to lose his party’s primary and subsequently his Senate seat. They basically let him get a head start on saving his spot by having him in their party. Other Democrats who may’ve been interested in the party’s Senate nomination were essentially shoved out of the way.
by Stephan Tawney on Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 4:31 pm