{"id":4855,"date":"2016-06-28T05:31:27","date_gmt":"2016-06-28T09:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.routineproceedings.com\/?p=4855"},"modified":"2016-06-28T00:36:22","modified_gmt":"2016-06-28T04:36:22","slug":"roundup-another-incoming-mass-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.routineproceedings.com\/2016\/06\/28\/roundup-another-incoming-mass-appointment\/","title":{"rendered":"Roundup: Another incoming mass appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The government\u2019s permanent Senate appointment board is set to get underway \u201cwithin days<\/a>\u201d to get to work on filling the remaining 19 vacant Senate seats, but if you listen very carefully, you can hear my alarm going of that the way they appear to be planning to do this is a Very Bad Idea. Specifically, it certainly looks like the plan is to appoint all 19 in one fell swoop by the fall, and I cannot stress enough how much of a really, really bad thing this is. It\u2019s like nobody learned any of the lessons from the glut of 18 panic appointments in 2008, and how badly that stressed the Senate in its ability to absorb that many new members at once, and the fact that it had a negative effect on their independence because it meant that the government at the time pretty much controlled them and exercised a heavy whip hand because there wasn\u2019t time to let them integrate at their own pace. The seven appointments made this spring, without a government or caucus to guide them, put them on a steep learning curve and left them with little in the way of logistical support for setting up their offices, which isn\u2019t exactly ideal either. That Peter Harder has now created for himself a new quasi-whip (ahem, styled \u201cgovernment liaison\u201d) that has the capacity to help them with some logistics issues, barring the Independent Working Group being in a position to offer that support as well if they are in a position to do so, may wind up being one less stressor for the individual appointees, but that still doesn\u2019t neglect the fact that mass appointments are bad for the system. Because of the nature of the Senate, it works best when individual vacancies are filled as they happen, and that those new senators gradually get up to speed, given the unique way that the chamber operates, and that really is a process that can take two or three years to get fully into it. But the government sitting on the appointment process as long as it has, in order to do these appointments in one fell swoop, is a problem, and it\u2019s yet another problem of their own making, which is a consistent pattern when it comes to the Senate. It\u2019s one thing I hope that does come out of this Federal Court challenge to Senate vacancies \u2013 that there is a declaration that sets a time limit for when vacancies must be filled, so that it cuts down on future mass appointments, on top of ensuring that those regions have their proper representation as they are guaranteed under the Constitution, because yes, these things do matter.<\/p>\n

Good reads:<\/p>\n