The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Local News

July 4, 2008

Love wants appointees in regular sessions only

By Mannix Porterfield

CHARLESTON — In a rare floor speech, retiring Sen. Shirley Love imparted some advice on the Senate leadership — limit gubernatorial appointments to regular legislative sessions.

Love reasoned that the time frame of a weeklong special session simply does not allow for ample consideration of some appointments that could prove controversial, as has been the case in years past.

Nor does it give the appointee an opportunity to prepare for an appearance before the Senate Confirmations Committee, the Fayette County Democrat said.

“A word to the wise from a retiring confirmations chair — the confirmations process in special session is flawed and cumbersome,” Love said. “During a special session, the Senate is in short session, often at night and often overlapped on interim meetings throughout the day.”

Under the West Virginia Constitution, the Senate must “advise and consent” to all appointments a governor makes to various state boards and agencies. In this matter, the House of Delegates has no voice.

A key phrase is that the Senate’s action must come in “the next meeting” of the upper chamber.

That means, as Love emphasized, under Rule 57-A, adopted in 1990, the “next meeting” means special sessions as regular ones.

Love initially was appointed to his Senate seat by former Gov. Gaston Caperton and has won re-election every time his term came up since the early 1990s.

Although gubernatorial appointments hardly cause a stir, on occasion one has sparked some intense debate. One such occasion came when former Delegate Mary Pearl Compton, D-Monroe, was nominated by Gov. Bob Wise to membership on the state Board of Medicine.

Conservative Republicans objected on grounds that she had opposed pro-life legislation in the House, and ultimately the full Senate rejected her for board membership. That appointment had come during a regular legislative session.

Love didn’t use this as an example, but emphasized that an appointment that is saddled with controversy demands that both the appointee and the Senate committee be allotted ample time to get all information needed.

“I respectfully suggest the Senate consider a change, based on their experience over the last 18 years, to confine confirmation proceedings to the regular session of the Legislature, so as to eliminate the shortcomings of a special session and allow your confirmations committee the time needed to fulfill its constitutional duty,” Love said.

Under the modern rule, appointments may even be considered during an impeachment procedure, Love pointed out.

“You can imagine what would happen if we had to do that in a short period of time,” the retiring senator said.

— E-mail: mannix@register-herald.com

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