New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and other top Garden State Democrats are calling on Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign – a sign of how quickly the senator’s political support may erode after Friday’s shocking indictment on federal bribery charges.
“The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state,” Murphy, a Democrat, said in a statement.
Murphy would appoint a senator to replace Menendez should he resign. Menendez is up for reelection in 2024.
Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian Menendez, are accused of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes,” including gold, cash and a luxury vehicle in exchange for the senator’s influence.
If somebody resigns it should trigger a snap election, not an appointment…
When elections are every couple of years, it’s easier to appoint someone in the interim instead of the logistics of having a new election for one individual seat.
Counter-point: elections shouldn’t be so complicated that you can’t perform a snap election on short notice. Other countries do it.
Do you have any idea just how much goes into an election? Those other countries also don’t have the population we do. The candidates need time to make their case and if the next election cycle is only a few months out then there is no reason to not wait. Plenty of seats go empty, not all seats need filled asap.
“yeah but think of how much WORK that would be…”
You aren’t wrong, I’m just saying it’s a bad argument for those in charge.
It’s not about work for the ones in charge. There is more to an election like giving the candidates time to make their case for being elected. When another full election is right around the corner it makes way more sense to wait. Depending on the seat and what that person does, we may not even need someone appointed, plenty of seats go empty for long lengths of time.
I do see where you’re coming from, and to an extent I agree with you. Why bother with an election when the next one is 6 months away.
But when it’s several YEARS, it becomes an issue. A lot can happen in 30 seconds, let alone a year or more.
In that case, it makes sense to require them to put any appointed positions up for election at the next regularly scheduled election. There’s an election every two years at most. Many states have elections every year.
More like how expensive that is. Seems like a waste of money when the next election is often months away. And will happen either way.
I think a lot of countries with snap elections don’t just do it for a single position, and it resets the whole parliamentary term.