ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290019
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
UNDERWHELMING as are Gov. George Allen's appointments to the State Council of Higher Education, a General Assembly bill to reconstitute its membership is not the answer.
The same goes for another bill, introduced by freshman Democratic Sen. Emily Couric of Charlottesville, that would require General Assembly approval for senior employees appointed by state agency heads.
The bills, while dissimilar in other ways, both suffer from the same underlying defect. They respond to Allen's extraordinary politicization of appointments to state agencies that were previously regarded as mostly nonpartisan by governors of both parties. In doing so, however, they politicize matters further.
The higher-education bill, sponsored by senior Democratic Del. Alan Diamonstein of Newport News and endorsed Monday by the House Education Committee, would oust the council's current 11 members, all of whom were appointed by Allen. They would be replaced by a new council with six members appointed by the governor and five by the legislature.
Appointees also would need five years' experience as senior corporate executives, or as members of corporate, not-for-profit or academic boards of directors. As Allen's secretary of education, Beverly Sgro, pointed out, this requirement is "elitist."
The bill's supporters are not without cause for worry. A key mission of the higher education council is to provide independent information and assessments to state policy-makers - not to promote any particular governor's political agenda. When the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission a few years ago studied the council's operations, JLARC praised its independence and its dual reporting responsibilities to both the executive and legislative arms of state government.
But as with Couric's broader measure to expand assembly authority over executive appointments, the higher-education bill not only raises separation-of-powers problems. It could further undermine an already damaged state of political civility. Support for and opposition to the bill fall mostly along party lines, and it is almost certain to be vetoed if it wins assembly approval.
As with violence, so with politicization: Escalation breeds escalation. Allen has less than a year left in his term; for now, a new governor who'll be more respectful of Virginia tradition is probably the best hope for breaking the cycle. Partisan counterpunches won't stop the bickering.
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1997by CNB