05 June 2007

Learn Something New Every Day

Senator Craig Thomas (R. Wyo) has passed away. He has always seemed like a modest, unassuming and decent man. Our thoughts are with his family.

The governor of Wyoming is a Democrat and, usually, that would mean that Senator Thomas' successor would be a Democrat. However, the linked story has this to say about the process of filling a Senate vacancy in Wyoming:
Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a Democrat, will appoint a successor from one of three finalists chosen by the state Republican party....

According to Peggy Nighswonger, Wyoming's elections director, the governor has five days to appoint one of the party's three nominees once he receives the names. That person will serve until the next general election in 2008.
I've never heard that before.

1 comment:

Harry Eagar said...

That's how it's done in Hawaii, too.

Last time it happened, the Republican governor appointed a Democrat who had been a Republican until not too long before and who had welshed on a six-figure state tax bill.

The Dems didn't think that was cricket, but they got their revenge by refusing to reconfirm her best (in my opinion) cabinet officer.