Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said today he advocates appointing an interim replacement for Sen. Ted Kennedy, but wants that person to pledge not to run in a special election for the seat.
“We are going to have an election, that’s not in question,” Frank said today on MSNBC. “We will have a clean, open, honest, fast election. … The question is what do you do during the interim period, and I think it makes absolute sense to have someone appointed who will have promised not to run again.”
He admitted that the state couldn’t legally hold someone to that promise.
“You cannot, I think, constitutionally enforce that, legally. But I believe you can easily find someone who will say, ‘Yes, I’ll serve for these months, I will vote,'” he said.
In Massachusetts, a special election must be held to fill a Senate vacancy, at least 150 days after the seat opens. Kennedy wrote a letter to Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick and state legislators in the days before his death, asking them to change the law to allow Patrick to appoint an temporary replacement. Patrick has said he supports such a move.
Frank also said he has no plans to go for the seat himself, and believes many Massachusetts congressmen feel the same way.
“We have positions now it would be a mistake to give up,” he said. Frank serves as chair of the House Financial Services Committee.
