Amendment 28

[To view the petition itself, please scroll to the bottom of this page.]

According to the U.S. Senate's own web site, Article 1 of our nation's Constitution required that members of the U.S. House of Representatives would be chosen by the People. It also clearly required that all vacancies in the House would be filled in the same manner:
"When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies."

Members of the U.S. Senate, however, were to be chosen by the Legislature of each respective state. Article 1 also provided that:
"during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies."

125 years later, the 17th Amendment finally required that U.S. Senators would be elected by the people, but it also repeated the original authority for Governors to make temporary appointments:
"until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct."

Unfortunately, most states have interpreted "temporary" to mean until the next scheduled statewide election. With such power at their disposal, it's no wonder that many Governors have engaged in deal-making and arbitrary exercises of authority since the 17th Amendment was ratified 96 years ago. At least five appointed themselves and one recently, "... was arrested amid allegations that he attempted to sell Barack Obama's Senate seat." [Former Governor Blagojevich was subsequently impeached and removed from office.]

While witnessing such behavior might be regarded as entertainment in other parts of the world, it's obviously been a deeply shameful and disillusioning experience for most Americans. Fortunately, a small bipartisan group of our elected representatives is trying to put an end to these undemocratic appointments. Led by Democratic Senator Feingold and Republican Congressman Dreier, they are cosponsoring what they hope will become the 28th Amendment.

They face an uphill battle, however, because the Founding Fathers purposely made our nation's Constitution extremely difficult to change. Amendments must not only be passed by at least 2/3 of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, but by 3/4 of our state legislatures as well --- which is the main reason it took us 125 years to gain the right to vote for Senators in the first place!

So please encourage other members of Congress to support Senator Feingold and Congressman Dreier in their bipartisan effort to end the appointment of U.S. Senators by state Governors. Thus far, only THREE of the 100-member Senate and EIGHT of the 435-member House of Representatives have joined them as Cosponsors. That's a long way from the number needed to get the congressional leadership's attention as they decide which of the thousands of bills and resolutions will be voted on (total number during 2007-2008 and thus far during 2009). And it's even farther away from the 2/3 majority it would take to pass it.

Burris-Blagojevich Scandal Updates: Chicago Tribune, Pro Publica, LA Times