From it’s inception, it’s taken the senators nearly 60 days to amass the 2/3’s majority of Senators needed to affect a rule change of this nature. For the record, here’s the body of the petition’s text:
Dated: April 22, 2010
We the undersigned Senators hereby pledge that we will not place secret holds on legislation or nominations.
We further call upon you to bring an end to the practice of permitting secret “holds” on legislation and nominations for those Senators who are unprepared to make the same pledge. While re deeply respect and appreciate the importance of the tradition in this institution, we believe the practice of the secret hold has no rightful place in the Senate of in an open and transparent democracy. When a member of the Senate wishes to hold legislation of a nomination, that Senator owes to this body and, more importantly, to the American public a full explanation. The Senate endorsed this principle in Section 512 of S. 1, passed by a vote of 96-2 on January 18, 2007.
As you know, S.1 has failed in practice to tend the use of secret holds. We, therefore, urge you to promptly consider further changes to the Senate rules in order to bring a clear and definitive end to secret holds on legislation or a nomination. We stand ready to work with you on such a rule change, as long advocated for by Senators Wyden [D of Oregon] and Grassley [R of Iowa], the leaders of a decade-long effort to eliminate secret holds in the Senate. We applaud their work and believe it mush now be pursued to its conclusion.
Again, in making this request, we pledge that we will not place secret holds on legislation or a nomination.
After Senators McCaskill, Warner, and Whitehouse; members of the Senate endorsed this petition in the following order [I have included their political party, state of representation and first year elected to the Senate, because these are telling details if you ask me]:1) Edward “Ted” E. Kaufman, [D of Delaware, 2009]
2) Bernard Sanders, [I of Vermont, 2007]
3) Kay R. Hagan, [D, North Carolina 2009]
4) Roland W. Burris, [D of Illinois 2009]
5) Robert P. Casey, [D of Pennsylvania 2007]
6) Jon Testor, [D of Montana 2007]
7) Tom Udall, [D of New Mexico 2009]
8) Sherrod Brown, [D of Ohio 2007]
9) Al Franken, [D of Minnesota 2009]
10) Ben Cardin, [D of Maryland 2007]
11) Michael F. Bennet, [D of Colorado 2009]
12) Jeanne Shaheen, [D of New Hampshire 2009]
13) Mark Begich, [D of Alaska 2009]
14) Jeffery A. Merkley, [D of Oregon 2009]
15) Amy Klobuchar, [D of Minnesota 2007]
16) Mark Udall, [D of Colorado 2009]
17) Jim Webb, [D of Virginia 2007]
18) Kirsten E. Gillibrand, [D of New York 2009]
19) Charles E. Schumer, [D of New York 1999]
20) Christopher J. Dodd, [D of Connecticut 1981]
21) Patrick Leahy, [D of Vermont 1975]
22) Patty Murray, [D of Washington 1993]
23) Byron R. Dorgan, [D of North Dakota 1992]
24) Debbie Stabenow, [D of Michigan 2001]
25) Dick Durbin, [D of Illinois 1997]
26) Jay Rockefeller, [D of West Virginia 1985]
27) John F. Kerry, [D of Massachusetts 1985]
28) Daniel K. Akaka, [D of Hawaii 1990]
29) Dianne Feinstein, [D of California 1992]
30) Ron Wyden, [D of Oregon 1996]
31) Tim Johnson, [D of South Dakota 1997]
32) Frank R. Lautenberg, [D of New Jersey 1983 - 2001, 2003]
Byron Dorgan signed it again……..
33) Evan Bayh, [D of Indiana 1999]
34) Jeff Bingaman, [D of New Mexico 1983]
35) Russell Feingold, [D of Wisconsin 1993]
36) Herb Kohl, [D of Wisconsin 1989]
37) Daniel Inouye, [D of Hawaii 1963]
38) Thomas R. Carper, [D of Delaware 2001]
39) Jack Reed, [D of Rhode Island 1997]
40) Barbara Boxer, [D of California 1992]
41) Arlen Spector, [D of Pennsylvania 1981]
42) Mary Landrieu, [D of Louisiana 1997]
43) Maria Cantwell, [D of Washington 2001]
44) Barbara Mikulski, [D of Maryland 1987]
45) James E. Risch, [R of Idaho 2009]
46) Kent Conrad, [D of North Dakota 1987]
47) E. Benjamin Nelson, [D of Nebraska 2001]
48) Blanche L. Lincoln, [D of Arkansas 1999]
49) Tom Harkin, [D of Iowa 1985]
50) Carl Levin, [D of Michigan 1979]
51) Mark Pryor, [D of Arkansas 2003]
52) Max Baucus, [D of Montana 1978]
53) Bill Nelson, [D of Florida 2001]
54) Robert F. Menedez, [D of New Jersey 2006]
55) Susan Collins, [R of Maine 1997]
56) Scott P. Brown, [R of Massachusetts 2010
57) Robert Corker, [R of Tennessee 2007]
58) Olympia J. Snowe, [R of Maine 1995]
59) Judd Gregg, [R of New Hampshire 1993]
60) Lisa Murkowski, [R of Alaska 2002]
61) Kit Bond, [R of Missouri 1987]
62) Richard Lugar, [R of Indiana 1977]
63) Sam Brownback, [R of Kansas 1996]
Add to the afore signed the letters authors, McCaskill [2007], Warner [2009], and Whitehouse [2007], and Senator Grassley [1981], who didn’t sign it, but like Senator Wyden who did, has made this a cause that he has been willing to cross the aisle over for nearly a decade and you have your 67 minimum. Additionally, Senator Reid [1987] of Nevada has expressed his support for that one vote margin of assured victory.
Demographically speaking, the first 18 signers (21 if you count in the 3 co-authors) have served in the Senate Less than 5 years. Is this victory due to the power of fresh blood from the Democrats, coupled with a sprits of the voice of reason from the Republicans? It goes without saying that Democrats are leading this incentive, but I must say, I am grateful to each of the Republicans who have switched sides, and most especially, freshman member James Risch of Idaho, who signed it even before it had reached the momentum of 50 members. He’s got to have some degree of integrity worth acknowledging. I am also frankly impressed with two other Republican Senators who are worth watching: Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Robert Corker of Tennessee. The one republican who disappointed me in this process is George Voinovich of Ohio. A lame duck not seeking re-election, he just seemed like the kind of reasonable person who would want to leave his imprimatur on this little action.
Could political honesty be a 4th of July present to the American people that the Senate will have the courage to give to us this year? Here’s hoping!
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