Dianne Feinstein, R.I.P.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the longest-serving woman member of the Senate and the oldest Member of Congress, died last night. She was 90 years old.

Dianne Feinstein leaves gap in Senate

Multiple news organs, including The New York Times, Fox News, and Just the News, have reported on her death. No one has yet released details on the cause of that death. Dianne Feinstein had been absent from the Senate for several weeks before returning to the Senate in August. Even then she seemed to have forgotten how to cast a vote. She granted her daughter complete power of attorney to handle a lawsuit with the heirs of her late husband’s estate. Many called on her to resign even then, but she refused.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) now has the authority, under California law (as Amendment XVII allows), to appoint an Interim Senator. He originally had said he would name a black woman to her seat if it fell vacant. But on September 10, Newsom said he would appoint a Senator who would not seek election to a full term. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) wants the Dianne Feinstein seat and was planning to run for it next year. (Sen. Feinstein had said she would not seek reelection.) She called Newsom’s new plan “insulting to … black women.”

The insult is presumably to Rep. Lee alone; she would have enjoyed a power of incumbency had he appointed her. If Newsom follows through with his plan, no one will have such incumbency, and the seat will be truly open. The Republican side has a favorite candidate, named James Bradley.

A long history

Dianne Feinstein served as Mayor of San Francisco from 1978-1988, succeeding George Moscone, who died from a political assassination. (The assassin who killed the Mayor also killed Supervisor Harvey Milk, an open homosexual. The light sentence that assassin got, convulsed the city in riots.) She entered the Senate in 1992, after defeating Interim Senator John Seymour in the special election that year.

In her third full calendar year in the Senate, Dianne Feinstein made this provocative statement in favor of gun confiscation:

Two years ago she introduced a bill that would have banned the AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and all magazines holding more than ten rounds.

Not only did that measure fail, but a federal judge recently struck down a statewide magazine-size limit.

What about the Michelle Obama plan?

Lately, rumors spoke of a plan to substitute Gavin Newsom – or Michelle Obama – for President Biden in 2024. That plan involved somehow forcing Vice-President Kamala Harris to resign, then seek the Dianne Feinstein seat as a consolation prize. If such a plan is real, Gavin Newsom has a chance to further it, or destroy it. Appointing an Interim Senator having no plans to run again would let Harris contend with Lee for the nomination. But if he appoints Lee, to keep peace in the California Democratic Party, he kills that part of the plan. Lee would have immediate incumbency, against the partial incumbency of a “once and future” Senator, namely Harris.