Chapter Five
-
HAIG NOMINATED AS DEFENSE SECRETARY
-
HAIG CAUSES STIR IN QUESTIONING FROM SENATE OVER VIETNAM POLICY AND DRAFT DODGERS - ATTACKS SENATOR KENNEDY
~
Haig labeled American Pinochet by Kennedy
-
SENATE NARROWLY VOTES IN FAVOUR OF HAIG NOMINATION
-
HOUSE PASSES HAIG NOMINATION BY FOUR VOTES - SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS SIDE WITH GOP
-
BORK CONFIRMED AS ATTORNEY GENERAL
---------------------------------------------
June 6th, 1973
“
My fellow Americans; Today, it gives me great pleasure to announce that I will be nominating for the Office of Vice President of the United States and devoted servant of the American people, a true patriot who believes in duty, honour and the greatness of this great beloved nation of ours. Governor Claude Kirk of Florida and I share a great vision of a powerful, prosperous and great America; which represents and fights for it’s citizens. Therefore it is my honour and privilege to formally nominate Claude Kirk to become the next Vice President of the United States.”
---------------------------------------------
The small television screen abruptly cut to a static black as all those assembled in front of it stared at the screen; wondering what to make of the announcement the President had just made. Seated around the makeshift television set were, White House Chief of Staff, Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy and protege Richard “Dick” Cheney, the kid on the block from Washington state and various other members of the White House staff. After several long moments of silence one of the group spoke up.
“Well, what the fuck was that!?” exclaimed the twenty six year old Washingtonian with his hands gesturing the punctuation.
“What d’you mean?” asked the slightly puzzled Rumsfeld who sat on the side of a desk, smoking a pipe and showing his bleached white teeth as he bit on the pipe.
“You know what I mean Don.”
“What?,- I thought it was a splendid announcement and choice,” cut in Cheney - eager as ever to flank his bespectacled ally and boss.
“Come on cut the soundbites; how the hell are we supposed to get someone like Kirk through Congress, unscathed or even through at all. He’s a bloody ra,-”
“Now come on,” cut in Rumsfeld, his grin having faded from his face, “Kirk is a fine firm conservative and patriot who shares the President,- shares our mission and vision, of a powerful, prosperous and great America; which represents and fights for it’s citizens.”
“But,- he’s spouted racist language and is associated with Walla,-”
“True but he’s a patriotic American and one who fights for our nation,-”
“In... Congress?”
“In Congress.”
The Washingtonian sighed, “that man will, mark my work, not get confirmed and will only succeed in showing weaknesses in the President’s support in Congress! By doing this he’s alienated the liberal party Senators in Congress an,-”
“and,” cut in Rumsfeld, with emphasis on the word, “he will have the support of the rest of the Republican caucus and the Southern Democrats, who’ll leap to such a proposal.”
“I fear they wont; he’s made a right balls up” cursed Bundy to Rumsfeld as he got up and walked out of the room. They continued talking among themselves now, not taking any notice of him. Fools; Kirk won’t be confirmed, Agnew’ll be forced out over his dodgy finances and that drunken midget Albert will get elected in his place. Worse still, he, Theodore R. Bundy would be out of his job, in the most powerful city in the world; in the most powerful building in the world. He needed to get back to Washington and get some good job lined up, before things went pear shaped here in Washington.
---------------------------------------------
President: Spiro T. Agnew
Vice President:
Claude R. Kirk, Jr. (Waiting to be confirmed)
Secretary of State: William P. Rogers
Secretary of the Treasury: Milton Friedman
Secretary of Defense: Alexander Haig
Attorney General: Robert Bork
Secretary of the Interior: Rogers Morton
Secretary of Agriculture: Earl Butz
Secretary of Commerce: Peter Peterson
Secretary of Labor: James Hodgson
Secretary of Health Education and Welfare: Caspar Weinberger
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: James Thomas Lynn
Secretary of Transportation: Claude Brinegar
Director of Central Intelligence: Richard M. Helms
Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation: Mark Felt
United States Ambassador to the United Nations: William F. Buckley, Jr.
President's Chief of Staff: Donald Rumsfeld
Assistant Chief of Staff: Richard Cheney
Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs: William J. Casey
Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy: Paul Weyrich
Press Secretary: Patrick Buchanan
---------------------------------------------
Secretary of State William Rogers sat awkwardly in the middle of the group assembled to discuss Foreign Policy with the President. The ‘others’ of the group comprised of Chief of Staff Don Rumsfeld, Assistance Chief of Staff Richard Cheney, Special Assistant to the President for NatSec Affairs William J. Casey and Defense Secretary Al Haig. As the group waited in the Oval Office for the President, Rogers couldn’t help but feel that he was a minority among this group of neo-conservatives.
The door then swung open as the President gleefully walked in; his tie still sat draped around his neck and a bowl of soggy cereal in his hand. The President was flanked by his Vice Presidential nominee Claude Kirk, who seemed to be entering into the room for the first time.
The group already in the Oval Office rose from their seats and stood as the President came in; the gesture made Agnew grin and made Rogers think of rolling his eyes; only Rumsfeld’s ever present eagle eyed glare prevented him from doing so.
“Sit down all of you” Agnew said and he sat down, put his feet up on the desk and dug into his bowl of cereal and soaked up milk. “Now William, what’s all this about the UN?”
“Well, Mr President, I think it’s time for us to discuss our position concerning and with the United Nations; in light of the recent censure act by them...”
“I fail to see why we should take any actions to back down from this group of jumped up college society debaters. They’re a bunch of commies and liberals who try to act like they matter.”
“Mr President if I may, the fact that they have censured the...”
“Oh come on William, let them censure us as much as they want; it’s not like it will affect us?” That got a big nod of agreement from the VP nominee.
“It... is rather serious Mr President, I think we...”
“...should withdraw.”
Rogers blinked, numb with the shock of the statement and the bluntness of it. He sat for a second think of what he should say. He didn’t need to as Agnew continued,-
“The time has come for this great republic to assert itself and it’s own free independent foreign policy which isn’t held down by the Ruskies in the Kremlin or the liberal negative naysayers from Europe and elsewhere... I’ve been discussing this with Claude and the others,-”
Good Lord, the madman never got this bad - though the increasingly outnumbered Rogers who snapped in to try and stop the President further digging the grave of US Foreign Policy, “Mr President, please can we discuss... without looking at this issue two dimensionally. I think we should prepare a state,-”
Rumsfeld cut in, “Nonsense William, the last thing we need is to cut in and get down on our knees and start begging to the Kremlin and Peking. The President is right, we need to show we aren’t going to be bullied into groveling to the Commies.”
Agnew grinned while waving his spoon to emphasise his words, “Right there Don. We wont be bullied by the low life lousy leftists!”
“Mr President, we cannot leave the United Nations,-”
“Give it time William, the idea will catch on with the patriotic God-fearing middle Americans.”
There won’t be any patriotic God-fearing middle Americans by the time you’re finished in Office - thought Rogers who acknowledged that he was fighting a losing battle; he wondered if there were any good lecturing jobs at a University or directorships up for grabs if he drafted a resignation letter soon enough.
“Well Mr President, could we please turn our attention to Viet-Nam.” barged in Haig who sensed that there could be a heated exchange over the UN, better to change it to something less divisive like ‘Nam...(!)
“What about it?” asked the President, eager to leave his mark on the South East Asian nation, whether it be the Mekong into a Tennessee Valley like LBJ or a nice big glass crater a la Truman.
“Well as you know we have decided to step up our operation there, as you have said, Johnson wasn’t firm enough.”
“True, true...”
“So, umm... what were you planning for us to do in Vietnam,” asked Rogers; regretting asking and almost dreading the response.
“I think we should get ready to have some talks with the commies in Hanoi.”
“Oh, that sounds good...” said the cautiously optimistic Rogers who was about to put forward proposals for talks with himself as the US representative, naturally.
“...After... we drop a few nukes on the Ho Chi Minh trail and Hanoi. That should get the North Vietnamese, the Chinese and the Kremlin ready for talks.”
“Wh-what!” coughed Rogers as Rumsfeld glared at him. Rogers could feel his skin crawling under his suit; this was beyond a joke now, this man was a nutjob.
“Relax William; it was only a joke; but I think that’s the sort of thing which should get the North Vietnamese ready to listen and talk; and the Kremlin should be ready to question and fear.”
William Rogers couldn’t relax as he knew that Agnew probably wasn’t joking. He shriveled up in his chair and spent the rest of the meeting drafting his resignation memo in his head.
---------------------------------------------
-
ROGERS RESIGNS
Cites irreconcilable differences with President Agnew’s strategy
...
-
Washington Post article headline, 4/7/1973
---------------------------------------------
Hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the nomination of Claude Kirk, Jr.
Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA): Mr Kirk, you are a member of the John Birch Society - or rather an affiliate of the group, correct?
Kirk: Indeed.
Kennedy: So... do you stand by the policy of the group that states that the United Nations is a anti-American organisation. Let me see; it's one of the Society's first and foremost campaigns; as it proudly states on literature - such as this one I have here. *Lifts up JBS literature and reads from it* 'One of the first campaigns of The John Birch Society was to get the U.S. out of the United Nations. The global power elites view the UN as their main vehicle for establishing, step by step, a socialistic global government controlled by themselves. Now, more than ever, we need to get out of the UN and remove the UN from the United States.' Do... you stand by that policy and agree with it?
Kirk: Yes I do. President Agnew and myself agree and believe that in light of the recent censuring efforts and drive by the liberal driven United Nations the time has come for this great nation of ours to leave that organisation and reclaim our position as a nation which is free from foreign intervention or control. So yes I do believe that this nation should leave the United Nations as stated by the information flier you have just read.
Sen. Pat Robertson (D-VA): Indeed I agree completely, good Sir. Do you think this country needs to get back to the morals that were set about by the Founding Fathers and not continue along the path set about by corrupting social liberals who wish to end morality in this great nation and take God out of,-
Sen. James Eastland (D-MS) (Chair): Senator Robertson, you are out of order.
Kirk: I answer to the Senator's point [*Eastland tries to protest but is drowned out by Kirk raising his voice*] - I agree that this drive to stop the Lord's word being spread in our schools and in our homes. I agree completely that this nation needs to readjust it's moral compass and restore morality
Sen. Birch Bayh (D-IN): So I take it that the Congressman does not support the right of a woman to choose,-
Kirk: Choose what? The right to butcher her unborn child? I- uhh support the ruling by the Supreme Court on this matter and will stand by the ruling of the Supreme Court.
Bayh: So if the Supreme Court were to change their ruling you would support it's new ruling wholeheartedly?
Kirk: With regards that a completely hypothetically question and I thus answer such a question.
Sen. George H.W. Bush (R-TX): So does that mean the Congressman would not support any liberal rulings by the Supreme Court?
Kirk: I stand by what I said...
Bush: I see. I recall you once denouncing Justice Warren and the Supreme Court as an 'attacker of the little man and his castle' & wished for Earl Warren to be impeached - something the Birch Society supports very much. Do you still stand by your prior statement?
Kirk: Well Earl Warren was an unusual and un-American Justice, but he was an exception like other un-American Justices he should have and should be impeached.
Bush: ...And does un-American mean simply liberal?
Kirk: It may...
Eastland: (Cutting In) Do you believe it is right to compromise your beliefs when your are elected, by proxy albeit to a position as high as that of Vice President and with the de facto Speakership of the United States Senate. Surely in order to maintain fairness and order in the Senate there is a need to compromise your beliefs and work with others?
Kirk: I don’t see why I should compromise with un-American leftists who hate everything this country stands for. I fail to see why we should give any oxygen to it; let alone let it have a say in how this nation is run and spreads it’s freedom loving liberty message.
Eastland: Mr Kirk you do know there is a line between stubbornness and walking the line; could you possibly walk that for us?
Kirk: I see no need to compromise my values with un-American loopy leftists.
Eastland: Apparently. [*Sighs*]
Kennedy: Do you support the increase in troops to Vietnam brought about by President Nixon and now accelerated by Mr Agnew and Mr Haig...
Kirk: That's President Agnew and Secretary Haig to you.
Kennedy: ...Look listen here, do you support troop increases into Vietnam despite the fact that public opinion in this country is wholly against the conflict and wishes for a speedy withdrawal from Vietnam?
Kirk: Well you say that, but I'm inclined not to believe what is written in the Washington Post at face value; from what I have heard the majority of people do in fact support the conflict and wish for a SPEEDY US victory and the spreading capitalism not a speedy withdrawal as a defeatist and appeasers such as your self would.
Kennedy: I take it you would favour an increase in bombing?
Kirk: Indeed.
Kennedy: ...And to what extent?
Kirk: I’d like to see the obliteration of North Vietnam, naturally
Sen. Hiram Fong (R-HI) (Ranking Minority Member): Surely the Congressman means getting North Vietnam to the table and discussing an amicable or even pro-Southern resolution of the conflict?
Kirk: Communism is like a cockroach, no matter what normal technique you try it will still come back and corrode and infest capitalist and freedom loving areas. It is key that we stamp it out and destroy it; a bit like a weed in the garden, you don’t simply chop the head of, you dig it’s roots out and destroy it. You don’t just stop there, you roll it back to it’s source.
Eastland: I see...
---------------------------------------------
The Oval Office
Rumsfeld: Mr President I fail to see why we are putting ourselves through with this self masochism in standing with Kirk. Sure he’s a fine firm conservative patriot by he’s alienating more or less everyone in the country besides the Christ nuts, the Birchers and the a-political-
*The Presidents skims over the transcript of the hearings while chewing on an apple*
Agnew: I don’t see what’s so bad about what he has said,-
Rumsfeld: He’s publicly stated our intentions in Vietnam and it makes Rogers leaving the State Department like a good decision; heck the liberal airheads will feel sorry for him; I didn’t think that was even possible!-
Agnew: Look he said nothing untoward at the hearings; we stand by him,-
Rumsfeld: *About to protest, but then decides against it* Fine
Agnew: Good. Period.
---------------------------------------------
Pat Buchanan (at a press conference at the White House; responding to Press questioning): The President stands by his nominee one hundred percent. Governor Kirk may have had a slip of the tongue or have used some lose metaphors; but at the end of the day he is still a patriotic and proud American, a committed anti-communist and is the best person for the job in President Agnew and my own opinions.
Senate Majority Whip Robert Byrd (responding to Buchanan’s statement): My ol’ hounds could do a better job being Vice President compared to President Agnew’s nominee!
Hunter S. Thompson: I suppose that cock sucker Agnew and Buchanan are right - I mean anyone, even Dick Nixon’s corpse could do a better job at being Vice President compared to him.
---------------------------------------------
The United States Senate had a relatively easy task on paper to do. It had to decide whether to scupper President Agnew’s Vice Presidential nominee or to give Governor Kirk it’s stamp of approval and to send his nomination off to the House; and probably certain death. It was expected that the vote would be close and along partisan lines. The Republican leadership spent most of the period before the vote giving favours to a set of liberal Senators from their caucus (which included Jacob Javits (R-NY), Edward Brooke (R-MA), Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME), Charles Mathias (R-MD), Richard Schweicker (R-PA), Clifford Case (R-NJ),) in order to get their votes. The Republican Whip(s) also lobbied conservative and rebel Democrats with various similar offers. The Democratic leadership on the other hand worked to keep the conservative wing of the party (which included James O. Eastland (D-MS), Herman Talmadge (D-GA), Ernest Vandiver (D-GA), Pat Robertson (D-VA), John Sparkman (D-AL),) from voting for the Vice Presidential nominee and also courted the liberal ‘Rockefeller’ wing of the Republican caucus; only Maine Senator Margaret Chase Smith appeared to be receptive. Both parties also courted the various minor and independent parties in the Senate; the New York Conservative Senator, James Buckley was a de facto Republican and thus was all but assured to vote Aye. Independent Democrat from Louisiana, John J. McKeithen (who would after the 1974 Midterms join the Democratic caucus as a Democrat) also indicated he’d vote with the Democratic caucus. Independent Democrats Orval Faubus and Harry F. Byrd were known to be on the fence, despite all the attention they were receiving. One of the stranger votes was to be cast by the equally strange and maverick Maryland Senator, George Mahoney. Mahoney who had won his seat in 1970 thanks in part to Independent Democrats and Republicans running splitting the Democratic and Republican candidates voting totals; allowing him to ‘come up the middle’ with less than 35% of the vote; Mahoney, an American Independent Senator was privately known to be in the ‘Anti-Agnew’ camp by virtue of the latter beating him for the Governorship in Maryland in 1966 (due to an independent Democrat, Harry A. Pressman running and splitting the Democratic vote.)
It was commonly accepted in the media by pundits and many politicians (including Republicans) that Kirk would lose; with predictions ranging from a 60-40 vote to anything as close as 51-49 or even a 50-50 split.
The Senators began the ballot roll call at 11:30 am and was expected to be finished within an hour. The Senators were reminded that they were not allowed or permitted to abstain from the vote or during the vote. A refusal to vote would lead to disciplinary action by the Senate Leadership. The Senate only needed one ballot to decide the fate of the Kirk nomination.
The vote therefore began at 11:30 am (EST - Eastern Standard Time.)
James Abourezk (D-SD) - Nay
George Aiken (R-VT) - Aye
James Allen (D-AL) - Aye
Gordon Allott (R-CO) - Aye
Howard Baker (R-TN) - Aye
Aye = 4 Nay = 1
Birch Bayh (D-IN) - Nay
Henry Bellmon (R-OK) - Aye
Wallace Bennett (R-UT) - Aye
Allen Bible (D-NV) - Nay
Caleb Boggs (R-DE) - Aye
Aye = 7 Nay = 3
Edward Brooke (R-MA) - Aye
James Buckley (C-NY) - Aye
Quentin Burdick (D-ND) - Nay
George H.W. Bush (R-TX) - Aye
Harry F. Byrd (I[D]-VA) - Aye
Aye = 11 Nay = 4
Robert Byrd (D-WV) - Nay
Howard Cannon (D-NV) - Nay
Clifford Case (R-NJ) - Aye
John Chafee (R-RI) - Aye
Lawton Chiles (D-FL) - Nay
Aye = 13 Nay = 7
Frank Church (D-ID) - Nay
Dick Clark (D-IA) - Nay
Marlowe Cook (R-KY) - Aye
Norris Cotton (R-NH) - Aye
Alan Cranston (D-CA) - Nay
Aye = 15 Nay = 10
Carl Curtis (R-NE) - Aye
Robert Dole (R-KS) - Aye
Peter Domenici (R-NM) - Aye
Peter Dominick (R-CO) - Aye
Thomas Eagleton (D-MO) - Nay
Aye = 19 Nay = 11
James Eastland (D-MS) - Aye
Sam Ervin (D-NC) - Aye
Paul Fannin (R-AZ) - Aye
Orval Faubus (I[D]-AR) - Aye
Hiram Fong (R-HI) - Aye
Aye = 24 Nay = 11
William Fulbright (D-AR) - Nay
Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) - Aye
Albert Gore, Sr. (D-TN) - Nay
Mike Gravel (D-AK) - Aye
Robert Griffin (R-MI) - Aye
Aye = 27 Nay = 13
Edward Gurney (R-FL) - Aye
Clifford Hansen (R-WY) - Aye
Fred Harris (D-OK) - Nay
R. Vance Hartke (D-IN) - Nay
Mark Hatfield (R-OR) - Aye
Aye = 30 Nay = 15
Jesse Helms (R-NC) - Aye
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) - Nay
Walter D. Huddleston (D-KY) - Nay
Harold Hughes (D-IA) - Nay
Hubert H. Humphrey (DFL-MN) - Nay
Aye = 31 Nay = 21
Daniel Inouye (D-HI) - Nay
Henry Jackson (D-WA) - Nay
Jacob Javits (R-NY) - Aye
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) - Nay
Russell B. Long (D-LA) - Nay
Aye = 32 Nay = 23
Warren Magnuson (D-WA) - Nay
George P. Mahoney (A-MD) - Nay
Michael Mansfield (D-MT) - Nay
Charles Mathias (R-MD) - Aye
James A. McClure (R-ID) - Aye
Aye = 34 Nay = 26
Gale McGee (D-WY) - Nay
George McGovern (D-SD) - Nay
Thomas McIntyre (D-NH) - Nay
John McKeithen (I[D]-LA) - Nay
Lee Metcalf (D-MT) - Nay
Aye = 34 Nay = 31
Howard Metzenbaum (D-OH) - Nay
Walter Mondale (DFL-MN) - Nay
Joseph Montoya (D-NM) - Nay
Frank B. Morrison (D-NE) - Nay
Edward Moss (D-UT) - Nay
Aye = 34 Nay = 36
George Murphy (R-CA) - Aye
Edmund Muskie (D-ME) - Nay
Gaylord Nelson (D-WS) - Nay
Robert Packwood (R-OR) - Aye
John O. Pastore (D-RI) - Nay
Aye = 36 Nay = 39
James B. Pearson (R-KS) - Aye
Charles H. Percy (R-IL) - Aye
William Proxmire (D-WS) - Nay
Jennings Randolph (D-WV) - Nay
Abraham Ribicoff (D-CT) - Nay
Aye = 38 Nay = 42
M. Gordon “Pat” Robertson (D-VA) - Aye
Lenore Romney (R-MI) - Aye
William Roth (R-DE) - Aye
William Saxbe (R-OH) - Aye
Richard Schweicker (R-PA) - Aye
Aye = 43 Nay = 42
William G. Sesler (D-PA) - Nay
Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME) - Nay
John Sparkman (D-AL) - Nay
Robert Stafford (R-VT) - Aye
Ted Stevens (R-AK) - Aye
Aye = 45 Nay = 45
Adlai Stevenson III (D-IL) - Nay
Stuart Symington (D-MO) - Nay
Herman Talmadge (D-GA) - Aye
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) - Aye
John Tower (R-TX) - Aye
Aye = 48 Nay = 47
Ernest Vandiver (D-GA) - Nay
Lowell Weicker (R-CT) - Aye
John B. Williams (D-MS) - Aye
Harrison Williams (D-NJ) - Nay
Milton Young (R-ND) - Aye
Aye = 51 Nay 49
The clerk of the Senate re-read the roll and pronounced the result. With that the chamber of the Senate suddenly erupted into cheers from the Republican caucus who rose in cheers and claps of applause. While the cheers continued Senate Minority Leader Robert P. Griffin walked over to the downhearted Democratic caucus area and spoke to Majority Leader Mike Mansfield and gave him a pat on the back;
“You win some, you lose some.”
“I suppose.”
The Democratic caucus with Senator’s Mahoney and McKeithen sat in practical silence; stunned that the President had actually won the vote. For the several Democrats who sided with the Republicans, Senate ‘Majority’ Whip Robert Byrd smiled weakly and shook his head. Senators Allen and Eastland rolled their eyes at Byrd, Talmadge and Gravel tried to ignore him and stared at the ceiling of the hall or at their notes; Senator Robertson mouthed ‘fuck you’ to the Whip who simply chuckled and shook his head faster.
---------------------------------------------
"...
Senator Gravel (D-AK) when asked about his vote stated that he had concerns over not having a Vice President in place. When pressed about the support of the VP-nominee for an increase in Vietnam, the Senator offered no comment.
...
It has been suggested that the 'off-the-wall,' 'arrogant' and 'abrasive' Senator from Alaska; who has stated in the past that he is annoyed at being 'weighed down by the usual means of seniority-based committee assignments or negotiating deals with other senators' has opted and relied on attention-getting gestures to achieve what he wants, hoping national exposure will force other Senators to listen to him. In the past the maverick Senate Democrat has sided with Southern Democrats so as to raise his image in the media and public; despite the fact that the two are (supposedly) on differing sides of the political divide and the Democratic Party. This would seem to suggest why the 'loose cannon' from Alaska voted with Conservative Democratic colleagues such as - Pat Robertson of Virginia, Herman Talmadge of Georgia, Jim Allen of Alabama and Senators John Williams and James O. Eastland of Mississippi; the large defection by these Democrats lead to the 51-49 victory for President Agnew's nominee.
-
Washington Post article
---------------------------------------------
President Agnew and his nominee sat watching the proceedings on a small television that had been wired up in the Oval Office at what appeared to be short notice; all under the watchful eye of Don Rumsfeld and his loyal hound Dick Cheney; who stood watching the proceedings from the side of the room. When the result came in Agnew raised his arms in triumph as did his nominee. Rumsfeld turned to face Cheney and said while shaking his head,
“I don’t suppose anyone has told him that they still need to go through the House...”
---------------------------------------------
-
HOUSE VOTES 220-215 FOR KIRK
-
KIRK SWORN IN A VICE PRESIDENT