700,000 Kentuckians Disenfranchised

Everyone in Kentucky's Fourth Congressional District as of today has no representation in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Does this mean we don't have to pay federal taxes for the next five months? 

Beth Campbell, AP:

Republican U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis of Kentucky resigned Tuesday, citing a family health issue. [nky.com story (best coverage), Politico story, TheHill.com story]

Davis had previously announced he would retire this year from Congress. He said in a statement issued Tuesday that a family health issue had developed recently that needs more of his time.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/31/2279043/davis-resigns-from-congress-5.html#storylink=cpy

SNIP

Lynn Sowards Zellen, spokeswoman for the Kentucky secretary of state’s office, said the U.S. Constitution requires a special election be held to determine who will fill the seat.

Oh, goody. A special election between now and the general election in November. We already have our Democratic and repug nominees for that race - are they automatically the candidates for the special?

If so, would this be a bigger gift to repug Thomas Massie who has a big money advantage already, or to Dermocratic nominee Bill Atkins, who would be running in racist Northern Kentucky on a special-election ballot without Barack Obama at the top. If not, then how the fuck does Kentucky SOS Allison Lundergan Grimes plan to hold both a primary and two general elections in the next three months? 

NKY.com finds someone who makes sense:

Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Bill Adkins are on the November ballot to succeed Davis. The U.S. Constitution requires a special election to fill a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Because the special election must be at least five weeks from now, Beshear might opt to put the special election on the November ballot, said Trey Grayson, who is a former Kentucky Secretary of State and now heads Harvard’s Institute of Politics. The political parties would likely nominate Massie and Adkins, who would then appear on the ballot twice. That would allow the winner of the general election and the special election to take office in November, Grayson said.

“Presumably, the winner will take office earlier,” Grayson said. “The special election results get certified quicker than regular election results. The person would have more seniority. Given that they already have an election that day for the Fourth District, that probably makes the most sense, rather than have another election.”

Will Grimes and Governor Steve Beshear do the logical and vastly cheaper thing? Stay tuned.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/07/31/2279043/davis-resigns-from-congress-5.html#storylink=cpy