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WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Senate GOP should filibuster if Kirk is delayed. Senator-elect Mark Kirk, R?

By Glenn Reynolds

WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Senate GOP should filibuster if Kirk is delayed.

Senator-elect Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is one of three senators elected Nov. 2 to fill seats vacated by individuals who joined the Obama administration. Illinois law requires that Kirk assume his office immediately following the election, but unnamed state officials say Kirk can’t be sworn in until Nov. 29 due to “paperwork” delays. Kirk, who replaces Democratic appointee Roland Burris, won his election after promising to be a Republican vote against any attempts by Democrats to pass radical legislation during the lame duck session of Congress. The lame duck session that opens Nov. 15 gives shellacked Democrats two final weeks to pass legislation they failed to approve before the election. Burris will still sit with Senate Democrats if Kirk is not sworn in until Nov. 29.

The seeming inability of unnamed Illinois officials to complete “paperwork” as required by law in a timely manner contrasts mightily with West Virginia and Delaware, where no such delays will delay seating Joe Manchin and Chris Coons, respectively, who will take office on the first day of the lame duck session. That both are Democrats replacing Democrats and thus won’t change the Senate’s partisan balance of power is probably not coincidental. Let’s not forget, either, that the Democratic political machine holding up Kirk’s appointment may be the most corrupt since Tammany Hall.

The Examiner editorial is right.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on November 10, 2010 (boomark / email).