Mass. Senate primed for appointment vote

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff

With Republicans apparently prepared to drop their parliamentary delays, a bill that would let Governor Deval Patrick appoint an interim successor to Edward M. Kennedy in the US Senate is poised for a full debate tomorrow in the state Senate.

“We’ll probably take it up tomorrow,” said Senate Minority Leader Richard Tisei, a Wakefield Republican. “I don’t know that there’s a lot to be gained by continuing to delay just to delay it. That’s not what we’re about. We’re trying to give people time to weigh in. We got the weekend out of it.”

“There comes a point when we’ve done whatever we can,” he added. “We’ll see what happens.”

By a 95-58 vote, House members last week approved the bill. Proponents of the bill argue that a second voice is needed to represent the state in Washington and that Kennedy would have wanted an appointee to push for a health care overhaul, while Republicans charge that Democrats are merely playing partisan politics to increase their majority in Washington.