Missouri House backs special elections for vacancies on mostly party-line vote

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State House members backed an effort Wednesday to make Missouri more like Massachusetts by requiring special elections to fill vacancies for the U.S. Senate and most executive offices.

The legislation would limit the ability of Missouri governors to appoint long-term replacements when top officeholders leave early because of deaths, resignations or impeachment-prompted ousters.

"The whole point of the bill is to make sure people always have the opportunity to chose who governs over them," said sponsoring Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem. "We're giving the power back to the people."

The Republican-led House gave the bill initial approval Wednesday on a largely party-line 88-59 vote. The bill needs to pass a second vote to go to the Senate. Gov. Jay Nixon then could sign or veto it; he said last year that Missouri's existing system for filling vacancies appeared to work fine.

The Missouri legislation comes just weeks after Massachusetts voters -- in a special election -- chose Republican Scott Brown to succeed the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy.

Massachusetts changed its law in 2004 to fill vacancies with special elections instead of gubernatorial appointments. After Kennedy died last August, Massachusetts legislators tinkered with the vacancy law again to allow the governor to make a temporary Senate appointment until a special election could be held.

The Missouri legislation would adopt a similar process -- allowing a temporary gubernatorial appointment to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy until a special election could be held.

"We saw recently in the state of Massachusetts how important a special election can be," Smith said.

Brown campaigned on his opposition to the federal health care legislation backed by President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress. His election deprived Democrats of the 60-vote majority they needed to break a Republican filibuster against the bill.

The Missouri Constitution spells out an order of succession if the governor were to leave office. But under current law, it is the governor's responsibility to appoint replacements when vacancies occur in most other statewide offices.

Under the legislation, the governor would appoint a temporary replacement for U.S. Senate, auditor or attorney general until a special election could be held. The governor would simply manage the offices of secretary of state or treasurer until a special election.

Some Democrats questioned the political motivations behind the bill, which is similar to one that passed in the House last year but stalled in the Senate.

Nixon, a Democrat, could get to appoint a replacement to Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan if she were to win Missouri's 2010 U.S. Senate race. The leading Republican Senate candidate is U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt.

"I don't remember seeing this bill when we had a Republican governor," said Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart.

Other Democrats suggested the legislation could foist unnecessary costs on the state.

"I don't know if we need to add any more elections, especially when there seems to be no money," said Rep. Michael Brown, D-Kansas City.

Missouri last had vacancies in statewide offices after then-Gov. Mel Carnahan died in an October 2000 plane crash. Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson succeeded Carnahan.

Wilson then appointed Democrat Joe Maxwell -- who won the November 2000 lieutenant governor's election -- to take over the No. 2 spot a couple of months before he normally would have been sworn into office in January 2001.

Wilson also appointed Democrat Jean Carnahan to the U.S. Senate after her late husband won election anyway. Carnahan served for two years until she lost to Republican Jim Talent in a November 2002 election to fill the remainder of the six-year Senate term.