Johnson’s Illness Won’t Change Control of Senate

The US political media were all agog yesterday when they announced that control of the Senate may not move to the Democrats next month after all. South Dakota’s Tim Johnson is one of 51 Democrats (or fellow travelers), and he had surgery yesterday for what may be a stroke. Immediately, the pundits noted that, were he to resign, South Dakota’s Republican governor would appoint a Republican to fill the vacancy, the Senate would be split 50-50 and with Vice President Cheney’s tie-breaking vote, the GOP would keep the Senate. That’s wrong.

First of all, unless Senator Johnson dies, there is no reason for there to be a vacancy regardless of his health. Precedent is a big thing in the Senate, and here the Democrats have an air-tight case. Senator Karl Earl Mundt (R-SD) suffered a stroke in 1969 and still served out his term through January 3, 1973. For four years, he never appeared on the Senate floor nor did he cast a vote. Clearly, there is no cause for Senator Johnson to resign nor is there any to remove him due to infirmity.

Nonetheless, were the legislature of South Dakota to impeach and remove him due to incapacity, and were Governor Mike Rounds to appoint a member of the GOP to fill the slot, the US Senate needn’t seat the appointee. Legislators have been refused acceptance before despite being “duly elected,” and this would be a case of an appointment, not an election. In 1984, the Democratic-controlled House refused to accept the election of a Republican in the 8th district of Indiana and seated the Democrat in the race instead. In this instance, the Senate would have 50 Democrats (as Mr. Johnson would be out) and 49 Republicans voting on whether to seat the new Republican from South Dakota. Not even Rush Limbaugh on extra pain killers could see the Democracts voting to give the Republicans control of the Senate.

Why then all the speculation? Quite simply, it was a slow news day in Washington. The Capitol and capital are winding down for the year-end holidays. A sick senator is news, in a very People magazine kind of way. Senator Craig Thomas (R-WY) was diagnosed with leukemia on Election Day, but that never got much attention. He’s back at work, and things were rather busy on November 7.

However, the episode does demonstrate the dangers of misinforming the public about politics just to create a story when there isn’t one. It’s an easy tale to tell: 51-1=GOP Control. Unfortunately, it isn’t true. But no one ever bought a newspaper with a headline “Senator Stricken, Congress Unchanged.”

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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