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Sunday, September 06, 2009

Law - Dawn Johnsen's DOJ nomination impacts Monroe County school board

Updating the ILB entries on DOJ nominee Dawn Johnsen, Andy Graham of the Bloomington Herald-Times (who also wrote this earlier story) reports today ($$) on the impact of the stalled confirmation process on the Monroe County Community School Corp. board (MCCSC), upon which Johnsen's husband, John Hamilton, began serving this year. Some quotes from the story:

More than a few people would dearly love to see the U.S. Senate expedite Indiana University law professor Dawn Johnsen’s confirmation process as head of the Office of Legal Counsel — including members of the Monroe County Community School Corp. board.

John Hamilton, Johnsen’s husband, began his four-year term on the MCCSC board in January, the same month his wife was nominated by President Barack Obama.

But he, like the rest of his family, has had to make family and professional plans amidst uncertainty about when or if she would be confirmed for her new Washington, D.C.-based post. Johnsen gained committee approval in March, but still has not received a vote before the full Senate.

Hamilton made 9 out of the 10 regularly-scheduled, twice-monthly MCCSC board meetings until June. He has missed four of seven since then, but has managed to make at least one each month and wrote via e-mail Friday that he intends to attend the Sept. 15 meeting that will include a public hearing on the 2010 MCCSC budget.

The family hasn’t sold its Bloomington home, but the couple’s two sons are now attending school out East.

“Certainly, family matters have made our lives a little more complicated for longer than we had hoped,” Hamilton said via cell phone Thursday afternoon.

“I certainly love being on the school board and am doing my best to continue to serve while we wait and expect a relatively prompt resolution of some issues with which we’ve had to deal.”

The Senate reconvenes Tuesday, and some Washington watchers feel Johnsen’s situation could clarify before the month is out.

MCCSC board president Jeannine Butler said that Hamilton had indicated, all along, that he would resolve his own status on the board after his wife’s confirmation process was completed, but few anticipated it would last this long.

“When she first was nominated, John told me he planned to stay on the board till she was confirmed, planned to be an active member and enjoyed the work,” Butler said. “In June, he reiterated that and hoped for some sort of resolution in August.

“I understand the situation, and I’m sympathetic with him. But we also need a full board. We need a full complement of seven active, participating members.” * * *

“I’m empathetic with John, obviously, but he’s had to miss four meetings since June,” said Butler, who doesn’t favor a continuation of that pattern. “That’s an issue that’s not at all about John, but about having a full board.”

Hamilton plans to continue serving on the board, for the time being, but said, “I have a new appreciation for how the federal government can, at times, interfere with the operation of local government in unexpected ways.”

The Herald-Times also has this editorial ($$) today, asking whether Hamilton should step down:
When John Hamilton ran a successful race to join the board of the Monroe County Community School Corp., he couldn’t have known his wife, Dawn Johnsen, would get caught up in a drawn-out nomination process for a significant role in the Obama administration. But that has happened.

Hamilton now finds himself in an untenable position regarding his attempt to serve the community through membership on the school board. He’s missed four of the last seven school board meetings as the focus of his and his family’s life — his sons are not enrolled in the MCCSC anymore — shifts more to Washington, D.C. He does plan to attend the Sept. 15 meeting, even though he previously had said that was up in the air.

No one is questioning his desire or ability to serve. But it is a legitimate question to ask whether he should continue to fill a seat on the MCCSC board when his energies must be split because of circumstances he can’t control.

He needs to be a full partner with the rest of his board colleagues if he is to continue.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 6, 2009 07:11 PM
Posted to General Law Related