Osage Nation Principal Chief Scott BigHorse appointed individuals to fill vacancies on four ON boards and those appointees will be subject to ON Congressional confirmation during the 2014 Hun-Kah Session, which begins March 31.
Those appointed will fill spots on the Nation’s Osage Nation Energy Services LLC Board, Gaming Enterprise Board and Utility Authority Board.
Recently those appointees were sworn into their respective board positions after taking oath with ON Trial Court Associate Judge Lisa Herbert presiding. The board members will serve interim terms pending confirmation consideration by the ON Congress.
Per the 2006 Osage Nation Constitution, all board and commission appointments must be confirmed by the ON Congress to continue serving past the interim appointment period.
Principal Chief BigHorse appointed the following people to board vacancies:
ONES LLC Board: Anthony Webb and former ON Congressman Eddy Red Eagle Jr. Webb took his board oath in-person while Red Eagle took oath via speaker telephone with Herbert.
ON Gaming Enterprise Board: Henry Harjo and former ON Congressman Mark Simms
ON Utility Authority Board: Paul Bemore, Homer Holding and Frank Johnson. Holding took his board oath in-person with Herbert while Bemore and Johnson took their oaths via speaker telephone with Herbert.
In addition to the Constitution provision on board and commission appointments, the ON Congress has promulgated its own Congressional rules for handling board and commission appointments before those individuals are considered for confirmation by the 12-member legislative body.
nthony Webb is an appointee of Osage Nation Principal Chief Scott BigHorse to serve on the Osage Nation Energy Services, LLC board. Benny Polacca/Osage News
According to the Congressional rules revised in October 2013, the Congressional Speaker will send a letter to the nominee requesting a resume and a completed questionnaire with a reasonable deadline set for receiving the information, which shall be no less than 10 days prior to the end of the regular session. If the information is not received, the nomination will not be considered and deemed rejected.
At the same time, the Speaker shall assign review of the nominee’s credentials, qualifications and any barriers to confirmation to the appropriate Congressional standing committee (i.e. governmental operations, commerce and economic development, health and social services, etc.) and notify the committee chairperson of this assignment.
The committee chairperson is responsible for accomplishing the study of the nominee to ensure he or she is qualified, verify information if needed and submit a report to the Congress with its recommendations, according to the revised rules.
Once the report regarding the nominee is submitted to the Congress, any member of Congress may motion for a nominee interview to be placed on an agenda or alternatively may move for the confirmation consideration to be placed on an agenda and such motions are subject to amendments and require majority votes to pass.
By
Shannon Shaw Duty
Original Publish Date: 2014-03-05 00:00:00
