A couple years ago, the Kentucky legislature passed a law requiring its Democrat Governor to appoint a Republican replacement for Mitch McConnell if he should step down from his Senate seat before the end of his term. (“If Mitch McConnell steps down,” Insider, 7-27-23)

This law guarantees extended Republican possession of a Senate seat. Governor Andy Beshear argued the measure broke the 17th Amendment procedure for interim Senate appointments but failed to notice it also offended two other foundational articles of the U.S. Constitution.

Article 1, Section 9 prohibits titles of nobility in America, essentially positions held for people outside of the electoral process.

Article 4, Section 4 requires the federal government to guarantee a republican form of government in every state — one where the democratic electoral process, once again, is the authorized channel for bestowing offices.

The Kentucky legislation takes the appointment power away from an elected public official and places it in the hands of a three-person executive committee of a private political party. This procedure is similar to how Putin extended his power in Russia well past constitutional time frames.

The Kentucky legislation also gives McConnell’s potential new Republican party replacement the head-start power of incumbency to help assure virtually a life-time hold on the position, as is the pattern in the Senate today.

This is a huge step in the process of tipping the Senate into Republican hands forevermore.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross

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