Iowa Senate misses confirmation deadline, leaving Branstad appointees in temporary limbo

DES MOINES - The future of more than a dozen of Gov. Terry Branstad's appointees was in limbo Tuesday after the Senate failed to abide by an April 15 deadline for gubernatorial nominations to state posts, boards and commissions to clear confirmation.

The list of names still awaiting Senate approval include Terry Rich, chief executive officer of the Iowa Lottery Authority; Chuck Gipp, director of the state Department of Natural Resources; and state Labor Commissioner Michael Mauro, along with 10 appointees to various state panels.

Senate Republican Majority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, acknowledged that the confirmation deadline has lapsed, but said similar situations have occurred before and he planned to offer a resolution to defer the deadline.

'It's nothing new,” said Dix, who indicated he had discussed the situation with Senate Minority Leader Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids. 'We're going to do what frankly the Democrats did when they were in control, too, so it shouldn't be an issue.”

But Hogg said it remains to be seen how the situation plays out on the Senate floor for gubernatorial appointees who are now 'deemed denied” for positions slated to take effect May 1.

'Iowa law provides that confirmations need to be acted on by April 15 and it's now after April 15, so they have missed a deadline,” he said. 'If I can cooperate and find a way to help them to get the people confirmed and we don't object to them being confirmed, I'm going to try to cooperate to find a way to get them confirmed. I think the ball is in their court to figure out what the solution is.”

The Senate makeup currently is 29 Republicans, 20 Democrats and one independent. To win confirmation, a gubernatorial appointee must receive a two-thirds majority - or at least 34 affirmative votes. Majority Republicans have enough votes to pass a resolution changing the deadline, but not 34 votes to ensure a confirmation.

'I think it's a sign that neither the Senate Republicans nor the Branstad-Reynolds administration is clicking on all cylinders,” Hogg said. 'It seems that they're really off and one of the reasons they're off is because they've been pursing all these nonsense bills that Iowans don't support - the anti-worker bills, the anti-family bills that they've been pursuing.

'Apparently, in the rush to do all of that they forgot about taking care of business and getting the confirmations done,” he added. 'I'm not trying to say these people shouldn't be confirmed. There are some people there I want confirmed and there are some people there I don't want confirmed, but you do have to follow the law.”

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