Don't get cute with the law

Well, I thought it would be Dukakis, but I'm OK with this.

Gov. Deval Patrick today named Paul G. Kirk Jr., a former aide and longtime confidant of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, to Mr. Kennedy’s seat.

I don't know Paul G. Kirk Jr. from a hole in the ground, but he appears to be a qualified candidate, and has taken the appropriate pledge not to run in the special election next January to fill Kennedy's seat permanently.

The only minor fly in the ointment, which I expect will be dealt with summarily, is this:

Late Thursday morning, however, the Massachusetts Republican Party filed a motion in Suffolk Superior Court requesting an injunction to keep the appointment of Mr. Kirk from taking effect. In its motion, party leaders argue that it was unconstitutional for the governor to have put the new law into effect immediately.

Obviously, the state party simply wants to help obstruct the President's agenda for as long as possible. Can't blame them for trying, I suppose.

Of course, this would all be moot if the Massachusetts legislature hadn't decided to tinker with state law a few years ago. When John Kerry was the candidate for POTUS, there was a possibility that he might win and that then-Governor Mitt Romney would appoint a Republican in his place. Loath to accept that possibility, the legislature hastily changed the law to require a special election to fill vacancies. Now that there's a Democrat in office, they have had to hastily change it a second time.

To which I say -- enough already. As much as I dislike appointments to the Senate, I dislike fooling around with the law for rankly partisan reasons even less. Don't like the possibility that a Republican might possibly appoint someone you don't like to the Senate? Work really hard to get Democrats elected to the governorship, or (failing that) really hard to defeat said appointee in the next election.