Chorus grows to remove Lieberman from post

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman’s chances of holding onto his committee chairmanship suffered a blow Friday when two key New England senators came out against him.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy and his Vermont colleague, Sen. Bernie Sanders, said Democrat-turned-independent Lieberman didn’t deserve to keep his Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee post because of his attacks on Barack Obama during the presidential campaign.

Lieberman angered many Democrats by supporting his friend John McCain and echoing the Republican’s criticism of Obama.

Liberal activists are urging Democratic Party caucus members to strip Lieberman’s chairmanship when they meet next week. “I am one who does not feel that somebody should be rewarded with a major chairmanship after doing what he did,” Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a Vermont Public Radio interview Friday.

Sanders -- like Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with Democrats -- said he hoped his Connecticut colleague would remain in the party caucus and work to regain the trust of those he has disappointed.

“To reward Sen. Lieberman with a major committee chairmanship would be a slap in the face of millions of Americans who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama and who want to see real change in our country,” Sanders said in a statement. “Appointing someone to a major post who led the opposition to everything we are fighting for is not ‘change we can believe in.’ ”

The issue of whether to punish Lieberman is a sensitive one for Democrats, given Obama’s calls for bipartisanship during the campaign. Lesser penalties are also being considered involving Lieberman’s committee and subcommittee leadership posts.

Some of Lieberman’s attacks on Obama “went beyond the pale,” Leahy said.

“I would feel that had I done something similar that I would not be chairman of [the] Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress,” Leahy said.

Lieberman, who was Democrat Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, was reelected to the Senate in 2006 as an independent after losing his state’s Democratic primary. He remains a registered Democrat and aligns himself with Senate Democrats.

Obama has told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada it would hurt the message of unity that he wants for his new administration if Lieberman leaves the Democratic caucus. Reid met with Lieberman last week and was initially inclined to strip him of the chairmanship, according to a leadership aide. But since then Reid has been working to find a compromise.

Lieberman also spoke last week with Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Key Republicans, including Sens. John Ensign of Nevada and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, have said they would welcome Lieberman to the GOP caucus.

Lieberman’s presence in the Democratic caucus was essential to the party’s control of the Senate because he gave them a 51-49 edge over Republicans.

But Democrats expanded their majority in the Nov. 4 elections and won’t need Lieberman to control the chamber when the new Congress convenes.

But they could conceivably need him to control 60 seats -- a filibuster-proof majority.