The possibility that Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul could become governor highlights an infirmity in NY law: There's no explicit provision allowing anyone to fill a vacant *LG* spot. The state's highest court let David Paterson do so after a legal fight, but this hole should be plugged
Having no LG is bad b/c if the governorship were to become vacant a second time, the job would fall to the leader of the state Senate, which is a bad & anti-democratic outcome. Had Paterson left office early (which was possible!), Republican Joe Bruno would have become gov
Plus, the court ruling that allowed Paterson to pick a new LG could easily be overturned some day (it only prevailed by a 4-3 majority), and it didn't require a confirmation vote in the legislature, as is the case with other vacancies (current comptroller was elevated this way)
This problem was one of many that @PoliticsWolf and I addressed in a post making a series of recommendations for improving NY's election laws. Some have already been adopted! dailykos.com/stories/2019/2…

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More from @DavidNir

26 Jan
Note that if Republican senators refuse to show up for a quorum call, Democrats can direct the Senate's sargeant at arms to arrest them and compel their attendance. That's how radical a threat withholding quorum is—you can be arrested for doing so crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL…
The quorum requirement (ie, need a majority of members to conduct business) is written into the Constitution. But one medium-term way to alter that calculus would be to admit DC and Puerto Rico as states
The cmte quorum requirements, however, are simply part of Senate rules and can be adjusted as Democrats see fit. When Dems denied quorum to the Judiciary Cmte last year when the GOP rammed the Barrett nomination through, Republicans just changed the rules slate.com/news-and-polit…
Read 4 tweets
11 Jan
NEW: We've obtained a full list of all 212 Democratic House members who are co-sponsoring the articles of impeachment drafted by Reps. David Cicilline, Ted Lieu & Jamie Raskin. Also available at link: dkel.ec/3nCP7TD
Notable names not on the list of impeachment cosponsors:

• Scott Peters
• Ed Perlmutter
• Jim Himes
• Jared Golden
• Ron Kind

Three Biden appointees (Fudge, Haaland & Fudge) are unlikely to speak out. Presumably Pelosi & Hoyer are not on list for leadership reasons
Scott Peters has said he supports impeachment, so his absence is surprising. Jim Himes hasn't directly said so but he's been torching the GOP on Twitter, so not sure what that's about
Read 6 tweets
10 Jan
I think there's a story here for a reporter interested in calling up some of these silent Republicans. The entire GOP loudly opposed last year's impeachment in unison. This time, almost none have spoken up ... and some have are *open* to impeachment
Quite the symmetry:

191 House Democrats have spoken out in favor of impeachment

191 House Republicans haven't said a word Image
A reason more Republicans are not speaking out in FAVOR of impeaching Trump: They're worried about getting murdered. Freshman GOP Rep. Peter Meijer said colleagues told him they knew they should've voted to certify the electoral vote but didn't out of fear reason.com/2021/01/08/ama… Image
Read 4 tweets
9 Jan
Saturday impeachment update. Here are the latest stats:

House (simple majority to impeach):

For: 189 (all Dems)
Maybe: 8 (6 D, 2 R)
Against: 13 (1 D, 12 R)

Senate (2/3rds to convict):

For: 24 (all Dems)
Maybe: 2 (both Rs)
Against: 2 (both Rs)

dkel.ec/3nmCJHl
There are 27 House Dems we've been unable to find statements on (we've gone through every Twitter account, both official & campaign). Almost everyone supports some form of removal (like 25A or resignation), but some folks haven't expressly opined about impeachment
A number of articles of impeachment are circulating. The central one, by Reps. Lieu, Raskin, and Cicilline, now has 180 cosponsors. However, it likely won't appear on congress.gov until Monday at the soonest
Read 4 tweets
6 Jan
At least six House Democrats have already called for Trump's impeachment for inciting today's violent coup attempt:

Cicilline
Moulton
Omar
Pressley
Takano
Wexton

Please let me know if you see others.
NY Rep. Mondaire Jones has also called for impeachment
Hawaii Rep. Kai Kahele is also on board with impeachment. Notably, he just replaced Tulsi Gabbard, who voted "present" on Trump's first impeachment
Read 18 tweets
15 May 20
Just before the House votes on Ds' coronavirus aid package, the HEROES Act, later today, Republicans will try to add a poison pill using a mechanism called the "motion to recommit." A better term for it is a troll amendment

*ALL DEMOCRATS MUST VOTE AGAINST THIS TROLL AMENDMENT*
If you're not familiar with these troll amendments, you can find a full backgrounder in the thread linked here: A very short version will follow
Summary: GOPers offer a bad-faith amendment that vulnerable Dems are afraid to vote against. Worst-case scenario: the amendment passes, making the full bill unpalatable to most Dems—and Republicans will still vote against the bill anyway
Read 11 tweets

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