If you have been tooling around Left Blogovia, Gentle Reader, you have probably already seen that Our Only President has made 17 recess appointments, which seems like a lot, taking into account that both houses of Congress are under the control of his party.
Now, most of the hoo-raw will be about Julie Myers, and well it should be. But even the recess appointment of Ronald E. Meisburg as General Counsel to the NLRB troubles me. According to the Labor Law Blog, Mr. Meisburg was something of a swing vote on the board, so on one level, he seems like a fine candidate. On the other hand, Our Only President put him on the board as a recess appointment two years ago, then sent him to the Senate to be confirmed for a full term, then withdrew that, then sent him to the Senate to be confirmed as General Counsel, then recess appointed him. I know Our Only President isn’t big on being advised, why on earth can’t he get the Republican Senate to consent to a mainstream (anti-labor) guy on the NLRB? I mean, yes, the Labor Democrats are furious about this guy and his rulings, but I’m sure you could get a small handful of Business Democrats to vote to confirm, and then you’re done.
Oh, one minor thing about Mr. Meisburg ... Gentle Readers won’t be surprised to hear that his history in labor law is all on the side of the employer. In his case, those employers prominently included mining companies, fighting against the United Mine Workers. Now, I’m willing to grant that the UMW is one of the bad unions, but still. Perhaps this week isn’t the best week to install a mining company stooge to help them get around safety. Not, of course, that there is a widespread problem in this country with unenforced safety regulations. Oh, wait.
Anyway, my main point is that Our Only President seems to be using the recess appointment power curiously often. Yes, Ronald Reagan used the power 243 in eight years (that’s an average of 30 a year), with three out of four Senates in Republican hands. George H.W. Bush only made 77 recess appointments (19 a year) despite having a minority in the Senate. Bill Clinton used the power only 140 times in eight years (um, 17 and a half?), and most of that was with the Republican Senate late in his tenure (when he was being impeached). Most of Our Only President’s tenure has been with a Republican Senate, and he’s already hit 123 (including, of course, John Bolton).
Now, clearly all of this is legal, and therefore of substantially lesser interest than much of what this administration has been up to. However, I think it’s worth pointing out, in the context of the intensity of the Executive power grab, that for some reason, Our Only President has been making recess appointments at a rate you might expect for somebody who is fighting with, rather than allied with, the party on the hill. Oh, and just for kicks, that’s three members of the Federal Election Committee the Senate isn’t confirming. Oh, and another member of the NLRB, this one a real whack-job, as far as I can tell.
chazak, chazak, v’nitchazek,
-Vardibidian.