The legislative approval of Richard Bell, Gov. George Pataki's nomination for New York State Workers' Compensation Board chairman, is part of a backlog of appointees whose confirmation may be intentionally delayed due to a budget battle.

Christina Baldwin, an Albany lobbyist for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), said it is her understanding a number of nominations have not gone through due to “certain issues in relation to the budget.”

There is speculation that the Senate may be stalling the nominations to pressure Gov. Pataki to make budgetary changes. Pataki's office said only “the Senate will see to the nominations on a schedule that they have determined. We have no say.”

In April, Pataki vetoed $2.1 billion in items added to the budget by the legislature, of which, $600 million has been restored through legislative veto overrides, according to the Division of the Budget.

The remaining $1.5 billion is not subject to legislative veto overrides because it was founded on so-called “unconstitutional grounds.”

Bell's nomination has drawn criticism from the AFL-CIO because of his history as an insurance agent for Travelers Insurance Co. from 1970-1997. “Anyone from the insurance industry would not be the best candidate,” explained Mario Cilento, an AFL-CIO spokesman.

The union group, he said, believes the chairman of a system set up for the needs of employers and workers should not come from a background of “making money off the workers' comp system.”

While he does not claim any direct or indirect responsibility for the stalemate, Mr. Cilento said he believes the Senate “understands his concerns.” With only two weeks left in session, Baldwin believes these nominations “will be resolved one way or another and some of these nominations will be passed.”

Special Reports /

Political Battle Slows NY WCB Nomination

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