Dustup at the ColdState Legislature Over Regent Appointments

There is an odd power struggle going on over at the the legislature over appointments to the Board of Regents at BigU. The situation is described in today's Daily:

Eleven candidates chosen by the Regent Candidate Advisory Council in January were interviewed by the committee in hopes of securing one of the open positions.

Among these candidates were the four chosen by Governor Pawlenty in the new route to appointing regents. Prior to this year, the RCAC's recommendations went straight to the Legislature.

But now, many members of both the House and Senate are uncomfortable with the Governor's new influence.

"I never supported the change," said Tom Rukavina, DFL Virginia, "Why give authority to the governor that's not explicit in the constitution?"

There are also signs that tuition is finally going to be a front-burner issue this year.

"Tuition is the number one issue," said former Sentate DFL Majority Leader Dean Johnson. "It must be both competitive and accessible."

"Being a regent is one of the highest honors a citizen has," said Peter Bell who is seeking re-appointment to the board.

Bell said his goals include, increasing the number of federal research grants, community outreach, improving graduate rates [sic] and managing tuition hikes.

Mr B. looks forward to continuing conversations, to use currently popular administrative crapspeak, at the legislature. But he does not look forward to another predicted huge snowfall in ColdState.