Just a quick and relevant refresher of North Carolina’s rules on filling a vacancy in the Senate from the National Conference of State Legislatures:
In the following 36 states, the governor makes an appointment to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy, and the appointee serves until the next regularly-scheduled, statewide general election. The person elected at that next regularly-held general election serves for the remainder of the unexpired term, if any. If the term was set to expire at that general election, the person elected serves a full six-year term.
Arkansas Kansas New Mexico Arizona (1) Kentucky New York (2) California Maine North Carolina (1) Colorado Maryland (1) Ohio Delaware Michigan Pennsylvania Florida Minnesota (2) South Carolina Georgia Missouri South Dakota Hawaii (1,2,3) Montana Tennessee Idaho Nebraska Utah (1) Illinois Nevada Virginia (2) Indiana New Hampshire West Virginia Iowa New Jersey (2) Wyoming (1) (1) The governor’s appointee must be of the same political party as that of the vacating Senator.
And why is this important?
FBI serves warrant on Sen. Burr and seizes cell phone in stock investigation. Per @latimes https://t.co/56MbrZEsq8
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 14, 2020
If Burr (R-NC) was to resign, the seat would not flip even though the Governor of North Carolina is Democrat Roy Cooper.
Open Thread
West of the Cascades
Am I reading this correctly that the new Republican appointed by Cooper would only serve until November 2020, at which point that seat would be up for a popular vote for the last two years of Burr’s term (if I am remembering correctly his seat was up for reelection in 2022)?
artem1s
Obviously Roy Cooper should let the voters decide and delay the appointment. Works for McConnell, right?
Baud
Cooper has to choose a Republican, but surely there is at least one Never Trumper in NC.
EthylEster
So how is party affiliation determined? Is it only by the current setting on any individual’s voter registration? I was wondering if a somewhat unenthusiastic GOPer from NC would be acceptable. Or somebody who used to be registered as a Dem. Somebody who switched parties yesterday? The rule seems a bit ambiguous. If so, I would like the NC Dems to play as fast and loose with the rules as the GOPers do. So sail as close to the wind as possible while honoring the rule in spirit.
kindness
Who else sees Trump playing hardball for Burr’s committee ruling that the Russians were trying to subvert the elections in 2016. Seeing that and seeing that other Republicans aren’t figuring out they too could be the next speed bump in Trump’s drive, you have to wonder about the intelligence of the modern elected Republican.
MattF
I think Burr’s truly remarkable stupidity and avarice need to be underlined here. Chairman of the freaking Senate Intelligence Committee. Swears up and down that he never used information from briefings. Jeeze Louise.
Tim C.
Might not flip, but there’s, I assume, a fair number of never-Trumpers that could be called on.
crm114
Burr’s getting leaned on because the Senate Intel committee is getting ready to release another report on 2016.
Mike in NC
Burr is a crook but I don’t see him resigning. Apparently he wasn’t going to run for reelection anyway. On the other hand, our other worthless senator (Tillis) will probably lose in November.
crm114
Can’t a Democrat just switch parties for the day he’s appointed? How exactly does North Carolina “certify” someone’s political party?
Dorothy A. Winsor
Burr is stepping down as chair of SCCI
bluehill
Burr stepping down as Intel chair during the investigation. Tom Cotton anyone? Ugh.
Mai naem mobile
@kindness: oh, yeah, this is all it’s about. Burr is useless but even Burr thought there was something there in the Russia thing and he’s working on the final report.
I would like Cooper to play hardball and have a Democrat reregister as a Republican and appoint them. The GOP needs to get a taste of their own medicine. Remember the GOP legislature tried to take away gubernatorial powers when Cooper was elected. If they can’t keep norm, there is no reason the Dems should.
bluehill
@Dorothy A. Winsor: There was some speculation if the investigation was political. Guess we got the answer.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: So unless the final report comes out tomorrow, it’ll have to wait until after we take back the Senate.
SiubhanDuinne
Burr has just stepped down as Intel Committee Chair.
Mai naem mobile
@bluehill: google Tom Cotton and his wife and marriage. I did this a long time ago when the story of him holding up an Obama nominee’s (she ended up dying of cancer after waiting for years) hearing basically because she was black. I just did it to get an idea of his background and his wife’s background. You may be surprised at the results. He’s got a Lindsay Graham problem which makes him easy to control.
CindyH
@Dorothy A. Winsor: as much as I despise Burr (I’m in NC), this will not end well for us sane folks – the repugs will get someone much worse to chair this.
bluehill
Senate also opening separate investigations into Biden on unmasking and Ukraine. Wait to see who takes over Intel committee, but whomever it is, I’m sure they’ll do something to dirty up Biden or exonerate Trump or both. Looks like Senate is going to take the yoke and try to drag Trump to victory.
Baud
@bluehill: Or sink with Trump’s anchor tied to their feet. Let’s work for that.
MattF
Somewhat OT… Trump has tweeted that Lindsey Graham should call Obama to testify before his committee. Ya think???
Hunter Gathers
I’m not sure that Trump is behind this.
Add up the following facts about Burr:
Old + White + Male + $$$ = easily dumb enough to have sent texts to his stock broker brother in law telling him to dump stocks right after exiting the Senate chamber where his briefings take place.
Martha Stewart went to prison over something like 30 grand.
Old white people with money do incredibly stupid fucking shit on a daily basis.
Adam L Silverman
There won’t be any need to pick a replacement, nor will there be a need for a special election provided Senator Burr gets the message. This search warrant, especially the leaking of it very quickly to The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway – Conspiracist at Large is a warning to Burr. Either bury the forthcoming fifth and final volume of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election and its ongoing interference in American politics, which, based on reporting, is going to have the most damning evidence of just what happened in it or revise it so that it exonerates the President, his 2016 campaign, his 2020 campaign, and Russia or be prosecuted to the fullest extent that AG Barr can prosecute a sitting senator and his brother in law for insider trading. That’s why you haven’t seen anything about search warrants for Senator Loeffler’s phones and digital devices, or her husband’s, or Senator Inhofe’s or Senator Feinstein’s either. Because neither Senator Loeffler, nor Senator Inhofe are prepared to release a thorough, bipartisan report into what Russia did do and is still doing to both help the President and influence Americans and US politics and policy within a few months of the 2020 general election.
Adam L Silverman
And there it is, Andrea Mitchell has just reported that Senator Burr has temporarily been removed as chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence while he is under investigation. I would put good money on Senator Cotton being named as his temporary replacement.
bluehill
@Mai naem mobile: Didn’t know about that, but have been worried about Cotton for awhile. Just as corrupt but smarter and more disciplined. I put him at the Barr, Kellyanne, McConnell level of malevolence.
Saw a tweet that says Jim Risch is next line so maybe Cotton will have to wait.
Tom Levenson
@Adam L Silverman: This would, as ever, be a good time for a leak of the draft report.
Tom Levenson
@bluehill: Cotton has a Beria look about him.
trnc
@Adam L Silverman: You mean Burr.
Amir Khalid
@Adam L Silverman:
You need to be careful with names. In my reporting days, a mistake like this would have got me in big trouble with my editor.
ETA: Drat. trnc got there first.
bluehill
@Tom Levenson: Didn’t who that was and one google search later I’m sorry I do. Let’s hope that history doesn’t repeat, rhyme or look even vaguely familiar.
trnc
Cole might yell, but Steve is the muscle.
who
@crm114:
Supposedly, they have to pick from a list submitted by the state’s republican leadership…
hueyplong
Anyone else see potential awkwardness for the Republicans in their rush to set a precedent of subpoenaing former presidents to testify before Senate committees?
Baud
@hueyplong: They aren’t rushing to do that. The last thing they want is for Obama to testify.
jonas
@Baud: Alternatively, he could appoint a batshit insane Trumpster who would have to defend the seat against a level-headed Democrat in November. I’m assuming Burr’s seat was considered safe, but it just got a heck of a lot less safe.
hueyplong
I was just playing off the Trump tweet. Your faith in Lindsey’s willingness to take a public stand opposite Trump exceeds my own. No doubt he’ll pretend the tweet never happened and hope there is no follow up.
Our first hint will be when #MakeObamaTestify trends.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@hueyplong: Now sure how much of a precedent it would be, President Ford testified about his pardon of Nixon before a House committee.
PenAndKey
@artem1s: Obviously Roy Cooper should let the voters decide and delay the appointment. Works for McConnell, right?
Apparently the law the state GOP pushed through in 2018 gives Cooper 30 days to submit a list of 3 republicans for the legislature to pick from. He can wait until day 30 and from what I can see there aren’t qualifiers on the candidates beyond being a registered GOP member, but they did a pretty effective job of tying his hands.
Adam L Silverman
@Tom Levenson: I would expect that Warner would leak it. The tell here is two fold. The first is that they’re not going after Senator Feinstein, a prominent and senior Democrat, who is also alleged to have done the same thing as Burr, Loeffler, and Inhofe. The second is that there is no actual law being broken here. Burr is broadly covered under the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution and specifically covered under the STOCK Act, which does NOT criminalize this behavior by members of Congress.
Adam L Silverman
@trnc: I fixed it.
Gin & Tonic
Should I hold my breath waiting for the FBI to subpoena Kelly Loeffler’s phone?
MisterForkbeard
@MattF: They should absolutely call him. Obama actually explaining it would solve a lot of the bullshit screen they’re trying to throw up around the thing.
It’s amazing what Republicans think these days. “Unmasking” just lets selected people know who is being surveilled or discussed. That’s… it. It doesn’t do anything else. There’s no grand conspiracy, or even a small one.
gkoutnik
@who: Is that tradition, or in statute?
MattF
@MisterForkbeard: Trump is looking for a replay of 2016, where Hillary Clinton was forced to defend herself against Republican inquisitors. I suppose I’m prejudiced, but this sounds like a genuinely awful idea for 2020. But Trump’s playbook is very limited.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@MattF:
Remember when the Rs invited Obama to talk to them about something (ACA maybe?) and allowed cameras in? They thought they’d score off Obama and he wiped the floor with them. They wound up trying to call a halt with him saying he was having a good time and they should continue.
rikyrah
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: Depends. Is blue your color?
MisterForkbeard
@MattF: I mean, anything they do will play well with 40% of the country – the Republicans are that brainwashed.
But sure, they should invite Obama in. He can say that intelligence agencies had found (and continue to find) that Russian Intelligence was boosting Trump’s campaign and that there were (and continue to be) a number of really weird an unexplained meetings between the Trump Admin/Campaign and Russian operatives. And that everyone performed well and legally, and that Trump has actually acknowledged Flynn’s guilt several times.
Obama has a way of cutting through bullshit, and he has the media presence to get people to pay attention. This would backfire drastically for Rs.
rikyrah
@MisterForkbeard:
Never forget the massacre…..they invited 44 into address them and he handed them their azzes…???
HumboldtBlue
North Carolina
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah:
On camera! Which they invited in to start with because they drink their own Kool-Aid.
bluehill
@rikyrah: Surreal. In other times, it would be so easy to dismiss this as paranoia, but now?
trollhattan
@MattF:
Aww, Donny just called Lindsay a “Mr. nice guy.”
mrmoshpotato
Just let Charles Johnson of LGF sum it up perfectly.
MattF
@HumboldtBlue: The Lincoln Project is leaving a mark in various places.
Jinchi
But he could pick a ‘sane’ Republican.
And there is no reason a Senator has to remain in the party after they take office.
HumboldtBlue
Greg Sargent
sdhays
@MattF: Why is the Lincoln Project, run by Never Trump Republicans, doing more to elect Democrats in down-ballot races (which I honestly didn’t expect) than “our” billionaires, like Michael Bloomberg.
sdhays
@Jinchi: You can bet that this how a Republican governor would play this if the situation was flipped.
Jinchi
That’s he heart of the matter, really. Trump and his team are accusing Obama and Biden of asking who the Russians were collaborating with in their assault on American democracy.
That’s the crime.
Jinchi
@sdhays: They’ve definitely run Republicans in Democratic primaries.
catclub
@Adam L Silverman: Loeffler,
Loeffler is a non-case . 1) she sold 0.6% of her stock fortune
in the sales in question. Her total fortune is of order $500M
2) her broker manages her stocks. She has insider knowledge and tells him to sell 0.6% ???
Quaker in a Basement
@Baud: One that’s older than 90?
catclub
and the whole point of he unmasking is that they did not know who would be unmasked – and THEN it turns out to be Flynn.
Rice or whoever, did not ask to “Unmask Flynn!” It was “Who is talking to Kislyak?”
Roger Moore
@catclub:
The whole point of unmasking is that it sounds vaguely wrong and sinister to ill-informed people. The Republicans don’t really want to go into the details, just make it sound as if Obama and company were engaged in wrongdoing. If they ever do call anyone from the Obama administration in, they’ll justify holding secret hearings for vague national security reasons so they can keep up the air of menace and illegality without risking being pantsed on national TV.
trnc
That didn’t work out for us in 2016. Also, I’m pretty sure Burr’s replacement stays in until 2022, which would be the next election for that seat.
Geminid
Burr votes like a conservative Republican-wrong- just about every time, but I give him credit for doing his duty on the Senate Intel Committe investigation with Warner. And in the 2010 lame duck session, when the ban on openly gay people serving in the military was put to a vote and repealed, Burr was one of a handful of Republicans to vote for the right of openly gay people to serve. His vote stood out to me because the other Republicans were people like Snow and Collins of Maine; Burr was the only southerner.
James E Powell
@HumboldtBlue:
Everything he says is true, only more. Every bit of it will be ignored by the press/media. They are never going to change their ways.
trnc
Yup, that was awesome. One slightly missed opportunity – when they complained about the size of the bill, I wish he had taken a piece of paper and written “Single Payer” on it and said, “Is that short enough for you?” Monday morning QB’ing, I know, but I did think it while I was watching.
HumboldtBlue
@James E Powell:
Nope.
EthylEster
@Hunter Gathers: Martha Stewart went to prison over something like 30 grand.
Martha Stewart went to jail for lying to the FBI during the investigation of her stock trades….back in the day when lying to the FBI was a serious crime.
EthylEster
@Adam L Silverman: which does NOT criminalize this behavior by members of Congress.
But Burr’s brother-in-law gets prosecuted?
EthylEster
@Jinchi: Somebody upstream said that state GOP submits the list. If true, oh, well. Sounds plausible to me.
EthylEster
@catclub: And I thought Feinstein’s stuff was in a blind trust. But this is just what I heard (IOW could be a rumor that is false).
Raoul
@Mai naem mobile: He’s got a Lindsay Graham problem which makes him easy to control.
I had never heard this before today. But it fairly immediately doesn’t shock me, now’s I think about it. Maybe Mother supervises visits with Mike, Lindsey and Tom? Irresponsible not to speculate.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Let’s put that on a billboard.
sdhays
@catclub: I have learned to never underestimate the pettiness of rich people’s greed.
Martin
@Baud: That’s not sufficient, unfortunately. The Senate is pretty much just confirming judges these days, so that’s what needs to be shut down. Lots of Never Trumpers adore those judicial choices.
Have a D flip their party to R for a day so they can be appointed. The ‘same political party’ is such transparent bullshit that it should be treated as such.
The Moar You Know
@kindness: It’s the only reason. Inhofe, Loeffler and Feinstein were just as guilty, making massive amounts of money off their stock trades, and the FBI isn’t going after them for anything.
PenAndKey
@The Moar You Know: I don’t remember the exact details, but wasn’t Feinstein’s biotech stock trade actually her husband’s and fully disclosed at the time of the trade? I’d hardly call that the same thing.
Anya
Is it too much to hope there is one RINO never Trumper principled republican left in North Carolina the governor can appoint?
Steeplejack (phone)
@HumboldtBlue:
That’s a good piece.
who
@gkoutnik:
It’s 2nd hand information from an acquaintance in NC, but I just looked it up…
http://pulse.ncpolicywatch.org/2020/03/21/why-the-right-may-be-willing-to-throw-burr-over-the-side-hint-its-about-politics/
“Under a 2018 law approved by Republican supermajorities in the General Assembly, the selection would have to come from a list of three individuals submitted by the executive committee of the state Republican Party. Previously, the governor only had to choose someone affiliated with the same political party as the outgoing senator.”
The replacement, should this happen, is bound to be selected from a collection of absolute monsters.
who
@Anya:
Unfortunately, yes….
“Under a 2018 law approved by Republican supermajorities in the General Assembly, the selection would have to come from a list of three individuals submitted by the executive committee of the state Republican Party. Previously, the governor only had to choose someone affiliated with the same political party as the outgoing senator.”
TS (the original)
@Hunter Gathers:
I’m 100% sure he is. You do not go against trump & keep a position of a powerful senator.
phein60
@crm114: An interesting question would be, how soon does the law require a replacement to be named? Can Gov. Cooper stonewall this until November?
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman:
Hmmm….
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman:
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Elizabelle
@Another Scott: You must put this in the fresh thread.
Not surprising.