Cooper's first team
Published January 5, 2017
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Roy Cooper[/caption]
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, January 5, 2017.
Gov. Roy Cooper named cabinet secretaries and “caretaker supervisors” to run his fledgling administration Tuesday.
He’s starting out like no other governor in memory. Cooper took the oath of office just after midnight Sunday. Monday, he appointed a budget director, human resources chief, legal counsel and communications officer.
Those individuals are assured of their jobs as long as Cooper wants to employ them. They count toward the 425 political positions the legislature will let him fill — down from 1,500 allowed for Gov. Pat McCrory.
The men and women Cooper chooses to lead “principal state departments” will be subject to Senate confirmation, thanks to a new law enacted just last month.
These changes, and others, were written by a Republican legislature and signed into law by an outgoing Republican governor to hamstring a Democratic governor. Cooper is challenging some of the measures in court, but a confirmation process is authorized by the state constitution, although it hasn’t been required in generations.
The Senate should use its “advise and consent” role responsibly. It doesn’t mean “stall and reject.” Cooper’s nominees should be given prompt and fair hearings once the legislature convenes next week. A timely vote must follow. Senators should examine credentials and experience and look for conflicts of interest or evidence of past improprieties. It wouldn’t be appropriate for them to reject anyone on the basis of partisan differences. The governor is entitled to set his own policies with the help of executives of his choice. The legislature has plenty of tools to oppose the governor’s initiatives without denying him the assistance of key leaders.
Nevertheless, Cooper wisely has recruited a slate of temporary leaders to immediately take the helm at the departments of administration, commerce, environmental quality, public safety, transportation, health and human services, revenue, and natural and cultural resources.
“We’re hitting the ground running by making sure veteran managers are in place across state agencies,” Cooper said. “I’m grateful these experienced public servants have agreed to serve temporarily.”
Whether they can or should serve indefinitely is a matter for the Senate to determine. Whatever it does, someone has to run those agencies.
Cooper named Michael Regan, a graduate of N.C. A&T State University, to lead the Department of Environmental Quality and Jim Trogdon, an engineer and retired National Guard general, to head the Department of Transportation. Ultimately, whether they take those posts will depend on the Senate.
Cooper likely will have to contend with a powerful, adversarial legislature as a governor with diminished powers. “We’ve had a few obstacles in our way” already, he said Tuesday. But his job is to address the state’s many needs, and he must have a strong team in place to fully serve the people of North Carolina.
