DATE: Thursday, August 14, 1997             TAG: 9708140456

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   72 lines

HUNT DEFENDS NOMINATION OF OWENS BUT CRITICS STEP UP JABS OVER SELECTION FOR POWERFUL STATE UTILITIES COMMISSION

Best wishes and farewells have been conveyed. Potential replacements are lined up.

But veteran Dare County Democrat Bobby Owens still has not clinched his appointment to the powerful state Utilities Commission.

With his future suspended while the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives dallies on Owens' nomination, critics have stepped up jabs and insinuations.

The Democratic-controlled state Senate approved the nomination months ago - and a House subcommittee has given Owens the nod.

Owens, a former restaurateur, was supposed to start his new $90,900-a-year job July 1.

The latest lambasting, by The News & Observer in Raleigh, called the governor's selection of Owens ``a gesture that smacks of naked political favoritism.''

On the same Aug. 7 editorial page, a cartoon showed Owens graded ``A'' on a Utilities Commission test where he has chosen a picture of a plugged-in light as the one that would work. In the cartoon, Owens also aced a true-false question that asked whether he was married to a Basnight.

State Sen. Pro Tem Marc Basnight, a Dare Democrat from Manteo, is Owens' brother-in-law.

While declining to comment on reasons behind the delayed confirmation, Gov. Jim Hunt shrugged off critics and defended Owens.

``He's highly qualified for this job because he is a successful businessman who understands how business works and he understands the needs of the consumer,'' Hunt said Wednesday. ``He really has the tools to do this job - he's a hard worker. He plunges in and wrestles with the issues.''

The governor also said he believes the House will confirm Owens soon.

Despite charges of political patronage by Owens' naysayers, Utilities Commission appointments are typically selected from members of the party of the sitting governor, said Robert Gruber, the commission's executive director.And members' job experience has been wide, he said. Gruber, executive director for 14 years, has been involved with the Utilities Commission in one form or another since 1973.

``There has never been any stated qualifications that I know of,'' Gruber said. ``There's nothing stated in statute. We've had people appointed who had a high school education, and we've had people who have had a Ph.D.

``Mr. Owens is the governor's prerogative, and I know him to be a fine man.''

When - and if - Owens wins approval, he will be required to step down from his seat as chairman of the county commission, a position he has held for much of his 25 years on the Dare County Board of Commissioners.

The 64-year-old Manteo resident would also have to quit his $73,000-a-year job as the governor's eastern representative.

Although some Democrats say Owens has been hung out to dry in the political wind that has lately been nipping at Basnight, Republicans say the delayed confirmation is simply a result of the legislature being bogged down in budget battles.

John Baldwin, chief of staff for Speaker of the House Harold Brubaker, said the House has had other priorities. But with most of the budget issues negotiated and off the table, he said the House should soon be ready to consider Owens' confirmation.

The General Assembly is hoping to have a spending plan in place by Friday, when the continuing resolution that authorized a temporary budget is due to expire.

``I believe there will be a vote, and right now I would guess he would have the support to be confirmed,'' Baldwin said Friday.

Baldwin said several House members questioned Owens' qualifications for the Utilities Commission.

``There's some members of our caucus who have expressed some concern,'' he said, ``and they're just waiting for the right time for it to come before the entire chamber.''

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