We greet the New Year with the official news that now former state Sen. David Trahan has officially resigned and we await the Governor’s decision to schedule a special election to replace him.
It seems fitting that the news of Trahan’s resignation and the immediate confirmation from three candidates vying to fill his vacated seat comes in our first issue of this election year.
Trahan was forthright all along about his intention to resign in December. He said he wanted to finalize his work on the tax code and tie up some other loose ends before resigning and true to form, he did.
However, the timing of his resignation suddenly crystallizes the possibility that the next District 20 incumbent could spend all of 2012 in campaign mode. The special election only determines who serves the remainder of Trahan’s final term. It’s entirely possible our next state senator will have to turn right around and fend off challengers for his seat next November.
Who’s to say one of the losers the first time around, won’t come back for a rematch next fall and what’s to stop them besides good horse sense?
We would think that one campaign in any given year would be enough for the voters to ably vette any local legislator, which should make next November’s vote a pro forma affair. However, there is nothing to say voters wouldn’t change their minds and send someone else into the fray next fall. Stranger things have happened.
It hardly seems fair to the next incumbent, whoever that is, but then again going without representation until next November is most definitely unfair to the 30,000-some constituents who make up Senate District 20.
