The fallout surrounding Senator Ted Kennedy's Senate succession plan continued today on Beacon Hill. Below is a piece recently published by State House News Service.
JONES SLAMS DEM PROPONENT OF KENNEDY PLAN
House Minority Leader Bradley Jones on Friday pounced on a colleague who earlier in the day ripped Republicans for criticizing a Senate succession plan. Noting that Rep. Robert Koczera in 2004 voted against a Republican-sponsored interim appointee amendment and took to the House floor to push for the proposal’s defeat, Jones reiterated his claim that Democrats were contemplating politically-based public policy changes. “A hypocrite right out of the gate – Bob Hypocrite Koczera,” Jones said in a News Service Interview. Jones added, “I haven’t said that I’m against the idea of an interim appointment” and said he was open to a change that applied only after the 2010 elections. Jones reiterated his beef that Democrats appeared to be engineering policy based on political circumstances rather than the state’s best interests, saying the plan wouldn’t be under discussion if Kennedy weren’t ill - the senior senator is battling brain cancer - or if Republican Kerry Healey had beaten Patrick in the 2006 gubernatorial election. Jones added: “If we had not changed the law in 2004 at all, this conversation wouldn’t be happening right now.” He said Democrats on Beacon Hill were responsible for a potential “crisis” should the Senate seat become vacant. The GOP-sponsored interim appointee amendment failed in 2004, with 44 voting in favor and 104 against. The 44 votes in favor were split evenly among Democrats and Republicans.
