Benedict Arlen Specter Gets Double Crossed by Democrats on Senate Committee Seniority

The backstabber got a taste of his own medicine!

Specter Will Be Junior Democrat on Committees
By John Stanton
Roll Call
May 5, 2009

Despite promises from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that Sen. Arlen Specter would retain his seniority after switching parties, Specter will be put at the end of the seniority line on all his committees but one under a resolution expected to be passed on the floor late Tuesday.
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As a result, Specter — who as a Republican was ranking member on the Judiciary Committee and a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, as well as ranking member of the panel’s Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education — will rank behind all other Democrats, at least until the end of this Congress.
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Democrats said that while unrelated, Specter’s comments to the New York Times Magazine this weekend indicating he would support former Sen. Norm Coleman’s (R-Minn.) disputed re-election bid against Al Franken have angered many Democrats.

“Sen. Specter better watch comments like these. They won’t help him in the caucus,” a Democratic leadership aide said, adding that the comments have ‘caused a lot of heartburn in the caucus.”

The higher a Senator's seniority the more power and committee staff he or she can command. This is a major double cross for Specter and one that he deserves. But the real losers here are the people of Pennsylvania who once had a powerful Senator that could achieve results for the people of his state. That's gone now and in 2010 when Specter asks to be re-elected as a Democrat the voters of Pennsylvania will be able to thank Specter personally.