Californians elected Dianne Feinstein, not her staff, to be their senator. She should resign | Opinion

More than 6 million Californians voted in 2018 to return Dianne Feinstein to the U.S. Senate for another six-year term.

What the voters did not do was choose Feinstein’s staff members to be the de facto senior Democrat senator from the Golden State. Yet, five years later, that seems to be occurring.

This is a result of Feinstein’s advancing age — she will turn 90 later this month — and a recent bout with shingles that created a months-long absence and left her more frail than ever.

Feinstein’s mental acumen has been questioned by supporters for years. The recent illness left her weakened enough that she needs to be pushed through the Capitol in a wheelchair.

Age and fragility are, of themselves, not necessarily disqualifiers from elected service. Rather, the issue is whether Feinstein’s abilities have declined to a point that she can no longer adequately serve.

Her loyal staff say Feinstein still casts votes in the Senate. But as a recent New York Times story makes clear, the staff “remind her how and when she should vote and step in to explain what is happening when she grows confused. They stay with her in the cloak room just off the Senate floor, where Ms. Feinstein has taken to waiting her turn to vote, then appearing in the doorway to register her ‘aye’ or ‘nay’ from the outer edge of the chamber.”

The image is one of a senator unable to do her own research anymore on the key topics facing her state and nation. The staff must bring the information to her. They are the gatekeepers.

Those same staff protect Feinstein from any public interaction. The Capitol police and Senate sergeant-at-arms also keep her shielded from photographers and reporters.

This is not how representative government is supposed to work. Voters have a rightful expectation that the person they chose for office will in fact be able to carry out the duties of that office.

Elected leaders must be able to answer in person for their votes, policies and actions. Accountability and transparency are key, and both are missing in Feinstein’s current service.

Feinstein not the first

Feinstein is not the first senator to confront mental and physical challenges while in office.

The leading example is South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond. He reached the age of 100 while in his final term and ended up serving 48 years in the Senate. Norm Ornstein, the emeritus scholar of the American Enterprise Institute, notes that Thurmond was “visibly infirm and confused during his final term, and his chief of staff was effectively making decisions for him for years.”

Last year, when Vice President Kamala Harris was presiding over a voting session in the Senate as allowed in the Constitution, Feinstein asked colleagues what Harris was doing there.

The Times notes that “for years, Ms. Feinstein’s memory problems have meant that she has needed far more support than other senators. Briefing her on the news of the day requires longer sessions and more background information.”

Erwin Chemerinsky, dean and a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law, noted in a recent column that he observed her decline in his last conversation with Feinstein. “It’s hard for me to write this about someone who has always treated me with great kindness, but alas: It is time for Dianne Feinstein to retire,” Chemerinsky said.

Depart with honor

Feinstein was elected to the Senate in 1992 and has a long list of achievements. She was a trailblazing female legislator and will be remembered as one of California’s great senators.

That’s how the voters would have it. They do not want the senator’s staff to have the power. If Feinstein can no longer perform her duties adequately, she should step down and let Gov. Newsom chose her replacement.