THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, May 7, 1995 TAG: 9505070049
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Senate leader Marc Basnight is on the verge of winning his two-year struggle with Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker for power to appoint members to state boards and commissions.
A bill introduced last week by Sen. Tony Rand, a Cumberland County Democrat, seeks to strip the lieutenant governor's appointive powers and transfer them to the Senate president pro tem, effective 1997.
At issue are some 158 positions on about 65 state boards and commissions.
Some are relatively obscure panels - the Advisory Committee on Abandoned Cemeteries, the Andrew Jackson Historic Memorial Committee, the State Board of Cosmetic Art Examiners, the Milk Commission, the state Board of Therapeutic Recreation Certification.
But others are powerful posts, particularly in coastal North Carolina affairs - the State Banking Commission, Environmental Management Commission, Natural Heritage Trust Fund Board of Trustees, Seafood Industrial Park Authority and the State Board of Transportation.
The bill is aimed at making the Senate president pro tem as powerful as the House speaker, and restoring to the pro tem the powers transferred to the lieutenant governor in 1973 when Democratic golden boy James B. Hunt Jr., now governor, held the post.
The bill probably will pass the Senate, with Wicker's support, as well as the House, where Wicker's Democratic allies are powerless to prevent the change.
``The lieutenant governor and myself,'' Basnight said Friday from Manteo, ``have reached an agreement that it is in the best interest of the lieutenant governor's position and the president pro tem's position to have the responsibilities of their offices changed in this way.''
``At no time can I find any reason for the speaker to be more powerful than the pro tem,'' Basnight said.
From 1973 to 1988, the lieutenant governor was the most powerful member of the Senate. The lieutenant governor set the agenda, appointed committees and controlled the flow of legislation.
That changed in 1989 when Jim Gardner - the first Republican to win the lieutenant governor's office this century - took office.
That year, the Democratic-controlled Senate rewrote its rules to strip the office of many of its legislative powers and assign them to the president pro tem's office, held at the time by Goldsboro Democrat Henson Barnes.
The senators argued at the time that the lieutenant governor, as a member of the executive branch, should not have the power to organize one wing of the legislative branch. But many of the lieutenant governor's appointive powers derive from state statutes - which means the House of Representatives had to agree to any changes - and those were left intact, until now.
In late 1992, as Basnight prepared to take office as president pro tem, the Senate stepped up its attack on the remaining appointive powers of the lieutenant governor.
Wicker was the target of public attacks from leaders of the state Senate, whose discussions ranged from usurping the remaining appointive powers of the office to doing away with the office of lieutenant governor altogether.
Basnight maintained at the time - and still does - that until the appointment powers of the president pro tem of the Senate equal those of the speaker of the House, the Senate post will not be considered as powerful or have the respect that the speaker's office does.
The Senate quickly learned that the Democrat-controlled House, where Wicker served for 10 years before becoming lieutenant governor, would not be amenable to stripping the powers of one of their former colleagues.
But that changed this year when the Republicans gained control of the House and many of Wicker's staunchest allies lost power.
In interviews in 1992 and 1993, Wicker said he would oppose efforts to remove his remaining appointive powers.
But this week, Wicker said he had changed his mind - largely because he had underestimated the widespread support in the Senate for the change - even among some of his closest friends in that chamber.
``I felt it was in the best interest of future lieutenant governors not to have to put up with this little glitch in the law,'' he said Thursday. ``I just believe it makes for a better relationship between future lieutenant governors and the General Assembly.''
The state Constitution gives the lieutenant governor only three duties: Presiding over the Senate, succession to the governor's post if the governor dies or leaves office, and serving on the state Board of Education.
Since he took office, Wicker has been named chairman of the Board of Community Colleges and led that group in its search for a successor to Bob Scott. He also is chairman of the Small Business Council and others.
Wicker has taken the lead in developing a proposal for government to help small businesses form pools to buy health insurance, lower rates and provide better benefits than otherwise available - the only major piece of health insurance reform approved by state lawmakers in 1993. He is behind additional small business health care initiatives this year.
Wicker was the major force last year behind legislation to lower the limit for blood alcohol content from 0.10 to 0.08 and is one of the key supporters of legislation this year to impose tougher penalties on those who drink and drive.
Wicker said he hopes that by cooperating with the Senate on his appointive powers, he will be able to concentrate on pursuing his agenda in that chamber. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker, right, concedes that political forces will
now drain the powers of his office toward Senate pro tem Marc
Basnight.
by CNB