I was only slightly happy to read that the Governor’s nomination for Commissioner of Political Practices will die in committee without a vote.

Supposedly if there had been a vote, the Governor’s nominee (Jennifer Hensley) would not have been confirmed. She would not be able to stay in the position, either.

Now without an up or down vote she can stay in the position until Schweitzer’s term is up (January 2013) or he can appoint someone else. This session of the Montana Legislature only has a few days left and meets every two years.

In my opinion, the (Montana) Senate Judiciary Committee members are a bunch of wimps for not holding the vote and moving on. It’s shameful, but that has been the norm for this legislative session.

Back in December I wrote a column called “MT Political Practices: Perception…” in which I said:

The Montana Commissioner of Political Practices is a thankless job. As I wrote before, “As commissioner you are appointed by a politician (Governor) and voted on by politicians (state senate) to oversee political campaigns. Something just seems funny about that…”

Now, if Hensley is confirmed by the State Senate, we’ll have someone in the job that worked for a politician and is married to one. Maybe this is funny…

Now, anyone who files a complaint who does not come from Hensley’s political side of the fence will have the feeling that they won’t get a fair shake because of her strong ties to the Democrats.

Additionally, those who are from her side of fence political fence, will have the feeling they have a friendly ear to quickly hear their concerns.

Perception is everything.

Also, in reading the story the Governor must believe nobody understands the nomination process. He stated, “If they didn’t want people that had been involved in partisan politics, why did they send me two names that had been involved in partisan politics?”

Or maybe he just does not know his “power” as Governor – he is not required to appoint someone from the list submitted by the legislative leaders.

Nonetheless, the election season of 2012 is fast approaching. The fact is that a former Democratic operative who is married to a Democratic senator will be the referee for this all important election – an election in which her former boss (Jon Tester) is running, plus there’s a bounty of other races in which she will be the referee.

Maybe the Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee should have thought about that…