Judge Bars Plan for Selecting Heinz Successor

A federal judge Monday rejected Pennsylvania’s method for picking a successor to the late Republican Sen. John Heinz, throwing Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh’s candidacy into doubt.

The judge said state election law unconstitutionally lets Republican and Democratic party committees pick nominees for a special Senate election instead of letting voters choose the candidates in primaries.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward N. Cahn could delay the special election scheduled for November to fill the unexpired term of Heinz, who died April 4 in a plane-helicopter crash.

The law “operates to abridge the right to vote of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Cahn held in a 21-page decision.

President Bush last week announced Thornburgh’s plans to seek the Senate seat, and he asked the attorney general to stay in office at least through July. Democrats demanded Thornburgh’s immediate departure.

Thornburgh aides said later last week that concerns about the lawsuit before Cahn prompted him to delay leaving the Cabinet. Justice Department spokesman Dan Eramian repeated that statement Monday.

After Cahn issued his ruling, a Thornburgh aide said the attorney general still planned to run for the Senate if an election were held this November, but his plans could change if the balloting were postponed indefinitely. Thornburgh would run in a GOP primary if one were scheduled before a November election, the aide said, on condition of anonymity.

The state GOP has not formally endorsed Thornburgh. The Democratic state committee has endorsed Harris Wofford, whom Gov. Robert P. Casey appointed to fill Heinz’s seat until the special election.

Cahn’s ruling came in a lawsuit by John S. Trinsey Jr., a developer from suburban Philadelphia who wants to run for the Senate seat as an independent.

Cahn said the state’s special Senate election procedure violates the 17th Amendment of the Constitution, which says a state governor can make a temporary appointment “until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”