The N & O ran a story entitled “Legislative leaders fire health plan chief.” Please note the title.
According to the report, Senator Rand and Rep. Hugh Holliman
apparently told Insurance Commissioner Jim Long to fire George Stokes
who ran the state health plan which covers state employees.
Despite
them telling Long what to do as opposed to firing Stokes themselves, it
seems the N & O title has it correct, at least in practical terms:
They in fact fired him. The article quotes someone as saying that
a joint legislative committee also approved of the firing.
Why is
the legislature, and even worse, just some of the legislators, making
administrative decisions? Long probably could have said no, but
the legislature does have its ways to get him to do what they want,
such as withholding funds.
This clearly is a separation of
powers problem, although not necessarily unconstitutional. While
Long may have fired Stokes as a technical matter, legislators were
basically the individuals making the call on an executive function.
