Merkley ‘expressed how profoundly disappointed he was with Lieberman’

U.S. Senator-elect Jeff Merkley (D-Portland) spoke up in a Senate Democratic caucus meeting on Tuesday regarding whether U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) would be stripped of his chairmanship of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee after he supported former presidential candidate John McCain in the November election.

Merkley spokeswoman Julie Edwards would not say if Merkley voted to remove Lieberman from his chairmanship, a move Senate Democrats had been contemplating since Lieberman spoke at the Republican National Convention and campaigned strongly for McCain, which included suggesting that President-elect Obama was not ready to take on the executive branch.

Edwards did say that Merkley was saddened by the choices Lieberman made leading up to Election Day.

“Jeff Merkley did speak at the meeting, and he expressed how profoundly disappointed he was with Lieberman’s actions,” Edwards said, adding that Merkley said he had been a big supporter of the Connecticut Senator when he was a vice presidential candidate in 2000, and that thousands of Oregon Democratic volunteers worked tirelessly on his behalf. “He also believes that the chairmanship is not an entitlement, it’s a privilege.”

Edwards said that Merkley was not going to dwell long on the results of the secret ballot vote Senate Democrats cast on Tuesday, where they decided to keep Lieberman at the helm of the Homeland Security Committee.

“Jeff Merkley looks forward to working with Senator Lieberman and all of his colleagues in the Senate,” Edwards said.