Cooper upset over appointments delay; legislature says wait until January

The administration has appointments that require legislative confirmation pending from as far back as late April, but the Republican-controlled General Assembly let them slide as they came in and out of session the last several months. Weighty boards are involved: The North Carolina Utilities Commission, the Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement System Board of Trustees and the State Board of Education.

In his letter Monday to Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore, Cooper said there's no reason for the delay other than "an obvious effort by the General Assembly to undermine my administration's ability to ensure faithful execution of the laws."

Berger, R-Rockingham, said the issue simply hasn't been a priority as the legislature dealt with other things. He said Monday's letter marked the first major push Cooper has made on the issue. Berger said he and Moore spoke Monday and that they plan to deal with Cooper's outstanding appointments when they gather in January.

"Most of them have not come by," Berger said of the pending appointees. "The governor has not had his people bring them by to interview with our members.

"The governor, really, until we got this letter today, had not been pushing for these nominees to any appreciable extent that I'm aware of," Berger said.

Cooper asked for an up-or-down vote on his appointments this week. The Senate met briefly Monday night to override a Cooper veto and does not plan on taking any more votes between now and a special January session. The House meets Tuesday morning and may come back into full session again this week.

Cooper noted in his letter that the Utilities Commission has important decisions pending on rate increase requests. The board likely will have acted by January.

One of Cooper's three appointees to that commission, former state Sen. Dan Clodfelter, has been confirmed. The other two are pending, but one is a reappointment, and that member remains on the board in the interim. Cooper said that, because the commission is a full-time job, this leaves at least one person in professional limbo.

"It is simply not how people should be treated, particularly by a body charged with representing the people of North Carolina," Cooper's letter states.

Cooper, a Democrat, and the GOP's legislative majority have been locked in a number of legal battles over separation of powers since Cooper won a narrow race against former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

"In an effort to avoid yet another legal confrontation," the governor said in his letter, "I ask that the General Assembly set aside partisanship and confirm these appointees."