Time running out to nominate a Democrat to labor board (* dragging feet)

[The Straight Story]

Time running out to nominate a Democrat to labor board

By Karen Rutzick
[e-mail]

As Congress winds down, unions and Democratic lawmakers are still waiting for President Bush to appoint a Democrat -- as required by law -- to the governing body for federal labor-management disputes.

Carol Pope, the only Democrat on the three-member Federal Labor Relations Authority, will complete her five-year term at the end of this session of Congress. The 109th Congress technically does not end until early January 2007, but members are adjourning this week to campaign for November's elections. Congress will return for a lame duck session after the elections

FLRA is an independent agency with three Senate-confirmed presidential appointees who set policies and adjudicate disputes between federal labor unions and agencies. Law requires that only two of the three slots can go to people with the same political affiliation.

If the president does not fill Pope's slot before she departs, two Republicans could make the decisions alone. One of those Republicans, Dale Cabaniss, former chief counsel for the Senate Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on the Civil Service under Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, was confirmed by the Senate in October 2003.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=35159&dcn=todaysnews