By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-898865.mp3
LANSING, MI –
Senate Republicans have carried out their threat to start rejecting appointments by Governor Granholm for positions with terms that begin next year. On Wednesday, the Senate rejected 15 appointments by the governor to university boards.
AUDIO:
Senate Republican leaders say appointments that begin next year should be reserved for the next governor.
Governor Granholm says the Senate is playing politics with universities that have to continue operating during the transition between administrations. Granholm says she's afraid this is a harbinger of negotiations on the budget and other critical questions, and that she remains governor until noon on January 1.
"We've got a lot more months left in this year," she says. "I hate to see the work of government slowed or stopped because this happens to be an election year."
Some of the governor's appointments were holdovers originally named by Governor Engler. The appointments include a Republican former state treasurer and a couple of influential Lansing lobbyists with ties to GOP lawmakers. Granholm says she may submit different names to the Senate.