cbs 2008-12-27 CAROLINE

Uh Oh – Caroline Kennedy is in more trouble with New York Democrats.  This is Dave Ross.

First it came out that Caroline Kennedy doesn’t vote in every election, now it turns out that despite being worth at least $100 million, she never writes checks to New York Democratic candidates!

– A single $1,000 donation to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, that’s it.

– $30,000 worth of political donations OUTSIDE the state over the past ten years, but the $1,000 to Quinn is the only money she spent INSIDE New York, and I see in the New York Daily news that some Democrats find it very annoying that she would try to slip into the Senate for free.

What is happening to American Democracy!  The Governor of Illinois could go to jail for looking like he was selling a senate seat, and now some New York democrats actually want a political donation litmus test!

The problem is this idea that it’s OK to left the Governor just APPPOINT a replacement senator.

If a state doesn’t have a Senator for two years, big deal.  Senators Obama and Clinton haven’t been functioning Senators since they started running for President anyway – so why rush to replace them now? Or if you really absolutely have to have two Senators, put the names of House members into a lottery and pick one that way.

Or have the governor call a snap debate – make everybody who wants to be senator face off one week from now, and let people vote American Idol style – we got some pretty decent singers that way.

And then there’s the simplest solution of all… the Governor appoints anyone he wants on condition THAT person agrees not to run in the next election.  Problem solved.    Now this.