Florida voters – not Governor Charlie Crist (R) – would have “been able to choose U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez’s replacement under legislation filed Monday by a House Democrat and Senate Republican,” the Jacksonville Observer reports.
Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, and Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, filed the measures (HB 213, SB 356) that would make Florida the 14h state requiring filling a Senate vacancy through a special election.
The remainder of states allow the governor to appoint a replacement, which Crist did in August when he appointed his former campaign manager, George LeMieux, to serve out the remaining 16-months of Martinez’s term.
“I don’t think anyone should presume this bill is a reflection of the governor’s choice, but rather it’s a reflection on the policy,” said Dockery, who is considering entering the Republican primary for governor.
Kriseman, too, said the legislation was “more about the process than the person.”
The legislation “doesn’t provide a specific time-frame for when the special election should be held once the vacancy is created. But those details can develop if the measure advances in the Legislature, the lawmakers said.”
(credit image – mencke)
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