The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission will have a number of new commissioners begin work this summer – three appointed by Gov. Beverly Perdue and four each by Senate Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) – but not necessarily at the commission’s next meeting, scheduled for July 7.
Berger’s appointments to 2-year terms include Wendell Murphy Jr. of Duplin County, who is already on the Commission; Thomas Berry of Guilford County, Mark Craig of Guilford County and Doc Thurston of Mecklenburg County.
Tillis’ appointees are John Litton Clark of Sampson County, John Coley of Wake County, Durwood Laughinghouse of Wake County and Mitch St. Clair of Beaufort County. Coley is the only new commissioner of the four.
Perdue has announced one of her three appointments, re-appointing former chairman Wes Seegars of Goldsboro to a 6-year term to represent Wildlife District 3.
Seegars’ appointment is scheduled to be recognized during the July 7 Commission meeting in Raleigh, and the Commission will vote at that meeting for a chairman and vice-chairman for the next two years. Steve Windham, a Perdue appointee from Winnabow, has been chairman the past two years and has two years left on his term. Chuck Bennett of Matthews is vice chairman; he is expected to be one of Perdue’s remaining two appointments.
Berger’s and Tillis’ appointees will be recognized at the July 7 meeting, but they may not be seated and be allowed to vote on the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship, according to Gordon Myers, the executive director of the agency. He said the new appointees – five of whom are Republicans – won’t be seated unless background checks have been completed and they’ve been sworn in by a judge or other elected official.
“By statute, The Commission votes for a chairman and vice-chairman at the first regularly meeting after July 1 in odd-numbered years,” he said. “Often, the legislature meets into August or even September, so a lot of years we don’t receive the names of the new commissioners until after July. This year, even with the early dismissal of the legislature, we haven’t received the names of the new commissioners from the Speaker’s and Pro Temp’s offices.”
Myers said new commissioners must undergo background checks and be vetted by the Secretary of State’s office before the swearing-in process.
“We usually do that at the August meeting with a member of the Secretary of State’s office on hand to do the swearing in. We can’t announce them in an official capacity until their (background checks) have been completed.”
Myers said the agency “would be happy” to seat new commissioners if they could get the Secretary of State’s office to complete their background check and be sworn in before the July 7 meeting.
After Perdue’s last two appointments are announced, Democrats are likely to hold a 14-5 majority on the Commission; Democrats have had a 17-2 majority the past six years.
The Commission is likely to look almost exactly like it did the previous two years in terms of where commissioners are from. For the past two years, 14 of the 19 commissioners have lived from the coast to Raleigh, with the western half of the state represented by only five commissioners.
Among Tillis’ appointees, Laughinghouse and St. Clair are Democrats who were previously on the Commission. Laughinghouse is a railroad lobbyist and a large landowner in eastern North Carolina; St. Clair is president of St. Clair Trucking in Washington. Tillis’ Republican appointees are Coley, a Holly Springs real-estate developer who has twice before served as a commissioner – having been previously appointed by house speakers Richard Morgan and Harold Brubaker – and Clark, who was already on the Commission; he, was first appointed in 2008 by Joe Hackney, a former house speaker. He owns and operates Sampson-Bladen Oil Company.
Murphy is a partner in his family’s hog business, Murphy Farms, the state’s largest swine producer. Berry, another Berger choice, owns Berico Oil Company and will serve for the first time on the Commission. Craig also is from Guilford County and owns a Budweiser distributorship. Berger’s final pick was Doc Thurston of Charlotte, owner of Thurston Motor Lines. Thurston is an avid big-game hunter and member of Safari Club International. He is a first-timer on the Commission and a Republican.
The choice of Berry and Craig is of some interest, because both are members of the N.C. Wildlife Habitat Foundation, begun by Eddie Bridges of Greensboro, a former commissioner who helped create the Wildlife Endowment Fund in 1981. The NCWHF also partners with the Commission and other agencies to purchase land for wildlife conservation and sponsors fish-and-game research projects.
Perdue is scheduled to appoint commissioners from Districts 3, 6 and 9 to 6-year terms before the July 7 Commission meeting.
Commissioners whose terms expire at the July 7 meeting include Eugene Price of Goldsboro, Maughan Hull Jr. of Elizabeth City and Bobby Purcell of Cary. Randy Allen of Charlotte, who was imbroiled in a controversial real-estate deal during the administration of Gov. Mike Easley, has resigned from the Commission.
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