Chris Fitzsimon asks the $64 million question
Submitted by James on Wed, 12/17/2008 - 9:11am
Is there a business veto over key appointments?
The discussion in the mainstream media and on political blogs about who will run the Department of Environment and Natural Resources has included a long list of names from current Secretary Bill Ross to former Secretary Bill Holman to Robeson County businesswoman Freda Porter-Locklear.
It has also been a reminder of the power dynamics in Raleigh. Reportedly, one reason so many names have been mentioned for Secretary of DENR is that the business community has reservations about most of the candidates suggested by the environmental community to head the state's environmental agency.
If that is true, it raises an important question. Why does the business community have so much say about who will enforce the state's laws to protect the environment? There have been not many reports that environmentalists have much say about who will run the Department of Commerce or Revenue.
I don't know if there's a veto or not, but I do know this: business interests in North Carolina have long held far too much power in far too many areas of policy making. And that's doubly true in the area of environmental policy.
Governor-elect Perdue should have one goal and one goal only in choosing a leader for this critical job: finding the most effective champion for making North Carolina a world leader in cleaning up and protecting the environment.
- James's blog
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Insiders tugging alone
will not have a satisfactory result in this situation. Governor Perdue is a very business-friendly Democrat. If the business lobbyists and the environmental lobbyists are the only folks duking it out in the shadows over the next DENR head, the results are predictable. This would be a good time for a broader environment of public comment to go directly to Governor Perdue and her transition team on this matter.
Dan Besse
Should it matter?
DENR is there to enforce the state's environmental laws. If the laws are the same, should any interest groups have any say or preference? Shouldn't the search be for someone who can effectively run that department?
I assume effective management
to be a given ... though that's probably naive.
But beyond effective management, there's a huge amount of discretion in using the bully pulpit not just to enforce laws, but to suggest what those laws should be in the first place.
In my opinion, business interests (especially development and energy) have succeeded in undermining environmental policy right and left. In many areas we take one step ahead, then two steps back: coastal water quality, beach management, air, you name it.
And in even more areas, we haven't even taken one step ahead.
Hell yes there is a business veto
DENR is under constant assault from the General Assembly for trying to enforce its rules and the law that the members of the General Assembly pass.
Remember when Rep. Roger West introduced a bill specifically to eliminate positions from DENR (even named the persons holding them) because these employees had attempted to enforce rules against a fat cat business that West favored? Of course this bill didn't pass, but there was not a word of objection from other members of the General Assembly.
Who do you think wrote the law (The Administrative Procedures Act) that the Rules Review Commission follows in determining whether a given rule submitted by an agency goes up or down?
That would be the most powerful lobby at the General Assembly, the Home-builders.
Doesn't anyone else remember WHY Bill Holman was not kept as secretary at DENR when Easley came into power? Outside of the fact that he didn't give the Governor enough money for his campaign, Holman was considered "unfriendly" to business. Holman got kicked off the Clean Water Trust Fund for the same reason -- he had this knack for trying to support environmental causes over business interests.
I don't understand how anyone can question whether our leadership is pro-business after Perdue's flip flop on offshore drilling.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing
-Edmund Burke