Kirk was formally sworn in by Biden just before 4 p.m. on the Senate floor, with Kerry standing just behind him and Senate majority leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi looking on.
The Capitol was mostly quiet yesterday as most lawmakers got an early start on the weekend. But over a private lunch with his wife and Kerry in the Senate dining room, a few of Kirk’s new colleagues came over to say hello, including Republicans Richard Lugar of Indiana and Bob Bennett of Utah. Energy Secretary Steven Chu also stopped to chat with Kirk and Kerry, who is helping lead the effort to pass a climate change bill this fall.
Kirk became the 60th senator allied with the Democrats, theoretically giving his party enough votes to prevent Republican filibusters. That could prove crucial to Democrats’ ability to pass major health care legislation, a top priority for President Obama and a goal Kennedy called “the cause of my life.’’
Kirk then met Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry, who said they discussed how Kirk can carry on Kennedy’s legacy. “We discussed Ted Kennedy, and what it means today for Paul and for all of us to take this seat,’’ Kerry said. “We talked about the things that Paul feels very strongly about working on and how he could be most effective over the next four months.’’
Afterward, Kirk struggled to talk about that moment. “It’s very hard to describe to you,’’ he said, his voice catching. “Sobering. Emotional.’’
Minutes later, in Room 317 of the Russell Senate Office Building - Kennedy’s office, the foyer walls still crowded with historic photos, mementos, and portraits he had collected over 47 years - the late senator’s staff gave Kirk a loud ovation as he walked in for a closed-door meeting.
Shortly after his jet from Boston touched down in Washington, Kirk and his wife, Gail, visited Kennedy’s grave on a grassy rise in Arlington National Cemetery. Wiping tears from their eyes and crossing themselves, each laid down a single white rose and red carnation for the legendary man whose counsel Kirk had kept for more than four decades. They repeated the rite before the graves of Robert F. Kennedy and of John F. Kennedy before returning to the car, arm in arm, and heading to the Capitol.
Yet after he was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden, Kirk spent much of his first day paying homage to his former mentor and close friend.
WASHINGTON - Paul G. Kirk Jr. stepped decisively into his four-month stint as Massachusetts’ junior senator yesterday, intent on putting the controversy of his appointment behind him and taking on a new challenge: to continue the work of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy.
It was a moment of extraordinary poignancy for the Kennedy family, coming one month to the day after the senator died following a long fight with brain cancer. The senator’s son, Representative Patrick Kennedy, watched from the Senate floor, and his brother and sister, Edward M. Jr. and Kara, looked on from the first row of the gallery, their eyes welling with tears.
“It was kind of a bittersweet moment,’’ Edward Kennedy said later. “It was sweet to see Paul being sworn in - and it was sad, because it reminded me of my father not being here. But I think it’s great for the people of Massachusetts. Paul’s going to do a great job.’’
As Kirk completed the oath, Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, turned and embraced Gail Kirk, who sat beside her in the gallery. Kirk brushed back tears as the gallery - including dozens of Kirk’s friends and relatives - burst into cheers.
“It’s all still surreal for me, it really is. You know, we’re not over the loss yet of our dear friend. It’s just a little overwhelming right now,’’ Gail Kirk, who met her husband while both worked for Kennedy, said later.
Fellow senators, including John McCain, an Arizona Republican, and Roland Burris, an Illinois Democrat, gave Kirk hearty congratulations before he ended his day with a reception in a Senate caucus room newly renamed for the Kennedy brothers.
“I think he’ll be very comfortable sitting in the Senate,’’ McCain said, adding that Kirk is already a known quantity on the Republican as well as Democratic side of the aisle. “He’s done more than an apprenticeship. He’s well versed in this role.’’
Kirk, 71, who will serve until after a special election Jan. 19, did not start his new job without controversy, however.
His appointment was the culmination of months of intense, behind-the-scenes maneuvering and political calculations, triggered when Kennedy, just before his death, urged the Legislature to let Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick name a temporary replacement. Yesterday, the state Republican Party lost a last-minute court challenge to block Kirk from taking office.
And some new colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, complained that he was the sixth unelected senator to take office this year. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, said he had “great respect’’ for Kirk but would continue to press for a constitutional amendment requiring all Senate vacancies to be filled by elections, not appointments. “Those with the power to write the laws of the land should be elected by the people those laws will affect,’’ he said in a statement.
Kirk also faced questions about conflicts of interest because he worked as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies in 1998 and 1999, and had been serving on three corporate boards. He resigned from the boards upon his appointment Thursday and said yesterday he was confident there would be no problems in his transition to public life. “I’ve always had great respect for the public trust, just for myself - let alone Senator Kennedy, and the importance of this body,’’ he said in an interview. “If I thought there were any conflicts of interest I would ferret them out and make sure those were solved.’’
© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.
Vizepräsident Joe Biden hat am Freitag, dem 25. September, den 71 Jahre alten ehemaligen Parteivorsitzenden der Demokratischen Partei im US-Bundesstaat Massachusetts Paul Kirk als Nachfolger des verstorbenen langjährigen US-Senators Edward Kennedy vereidigt. Mit der Ernennung verfügen die Demokraten wieder über 60 Mandate im Senat und können so einen Filibuster der Republikaner abwehren. Dies ist für die Verabschiedung der US-amerikanischen Gesundheitsreform von Bedeutung. Diese wurde von Präsident Barack Obama zu einem Hauptziel seiner Präsidentschaft erklärt und war zeit seines Lebens ein Anliegen des verstorbenen Senators.

Die Ernennung Kirks ist umstritten. Sowohl die Demokraten als auch die Republikaner kritisierten, dass Kirk bereits der sechste neue Senator sei, der in diesem Jahr vereidigt wurde, ohne dass dem eine Wahl vorausgegangen sei. Kirk tritt eine viermonatige Amtszeit an, die nach der Wahl eines regulären Senators in einer Nachwahl am 19. Januar 2010 endet. Der Demokratische Senator Russ Feingold aus Wisconsin trat dafür ein, eine Verfassungsänderung herbeizuführen, sodass frei werdende Sitze im Senat durch Nachwahlen und nicht mehr durch Ernennung durch den Gouverneur des jeweiligen Bundesstaates nachbesetzt werden.

Der Versuch der Republikanischen Partei, die Vereidigung des neuen Senators auf juristischem Weg zu verhindern, scheiterte zuvor. Erst am Mittwoch, dem 23. September, hatte die Volksvertretung des Bundesstaates Massachusetts eine Gesetzesänderung verabschiedet, die es Gouverneur Patrick ermöglichte, einen Nachfolger für Kennedy vor Ablauf der bis dahin geltenden 90-Tage-Frist zu ernennen. Die Republikaner halten in dem aus 200 Abgeordneten bestehenden Parlament des Bundesstaates nur 16 Sitze.

Vor der Vereidigung hatte Kirk gemeinsam mit seiner Frau Gail auf dem Nationalfriedhof Arlington jeweils eine weiße Rose und eine rote Nelke an den Gräbern von Edward Kennedy, Robert Kennedy und John F. Kennedy niedergelegt. Mit der Familie Kennedys verbindet Kirk eine langjährige Bekanntschaft. Von 1969 an war Kirk für acht Jahre persönlicher Assistent Edward Kennedys. Das Ehepaar Kirk lebt unweit der Kennedys am Cape Cod. Kirk studierte an der Harvard-Universität Rechtswissenschaften und machte 1964 seinen Abschluss.