02/01/2013
Re: Deval Patrick Picks Next Massachusetts Senator
From: MrStentorianCommentator
I figure the appointment of Patrick’s former chief of staff “ Mo” Cowan to fill John Kerry’s seat in the US Senate is the set up for a future quid pro quo of some sort. Even being an interim U.S. Senator for a few months brings with it various privileges, such as lifetime access to the Senate floor and gym facilities (good for a lobbyist).
If Cowan makes the most of those privileges, I imagine that whatever firm he lands with following his stint will later find it in their heart to hire Deval.
James Fulford writes: I believe the reader is overthinking here — I believe that Deval Patrick would have appointed any African-American at all to the Senate seat. There are now two black Senators for the first time since Reconstruction, and in a sort of callback to Reconstruction Era politics, neither of them was elected. (The other is Republican Tim Scott, who was appointed by Nikki Haley.)