A Democratic process should prevail in filling vacancies that occur in elected offices in the US by conducting  special elections — not political appointments.

It should be the people that should determine who the individual should be to represent them by candidates from both parties presenting their credentials to allow the electorate to  determine the qualifications as to who should fill the vacancy.

It should not take place in smoke-filled rooms of old-time politics via a political appointment by one person, or an attempt by one party to control the office which doesn’t represent the wishes of all the people.

If we haven’t learned anything from Chicago Ill., machine politics of the past we should learn something from its politics of the present.

The alleged corruption charges against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in trying to sell President-elect Obama’s Senate seat is a case in point.

Now, in New York we have President-elect Obama appointing Sen. Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.  If she is confirmed by the Senate, unintended Gov. Patterson will make a political appointment to the Senate to fill Clinton’s seat.

And, who do we have bidding for the seat, but a Camelot of the past, Caroline Kennedy, who hails from a prominent political family, and thinks that she has a right to the seat, and will campaign to the Governor, that she is qualified because she is a mother, a lawyer, an author, an education advocate and from a family who has spent generations in public service.

But what is her true experience?  The aforementioned words are but fluff.

She feels entitled — and there is a lot of that going around.

There are six female members of the House from New York that are more qualified.

And then there is Andrew Cuomo, the Attorney General of the State of New York, who had a messy divorce with the cousin of Caroline, and also feels entitled.

The scene is a tabloid newspaper’s delight.

There are serious questions about Caroline Kennedy’s ability to campaign in all areas of the state; nevertheless she did have a soul-food sit-down with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Harlem.  But when it comes to voting, and that’s what it’s about in the Senate, she has a spotty record.  In fact she was AWOL for the primary and general elections at the voting booth in 1994, when Sen. Daniel Moynihan was running for the very same seat Caroline hopes to be appointed to, against the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Caroline failed to pull the lever for any of her fellow Democrats in city primary races for mayor in 1989, 1993, 1997, and 2005, which Republicans went on to win three out of four times in the election.

These two examples are very good reasons why we the people should demand special elections to fill vacancies to elected positions, not appointments from politically-motivated rooms of Governor’s offices.