ON PUBLIC DEFENDER'S APPOINTMENT Teno to Senate: Back off

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday scoffed at a Senate attempt to push the nomination of acting Public Defender Masood Karimipour to the post, saying lawmakers must not interfere with a function that belongs solely to the executive branch.

“I never interfere with the Senate or the House for that matter. I never ask them or I never tell them who to hire or what to do. I hope they reciprocate that to the administration,” said a visibly irked Tenorio when asked for his comment.

The governor was reacting to a move by the Senate, primarily by Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes and Vice President Thomas P. Villagomez, to back Karimipour even before he can make an official appointment to the post left vacant with the resignation of former Public Defender Harvey Palefsky.

But Tenorio said the acting PDO chief is still one of several candidates being eyed to the position, saying he is “qualified.” He declined to elaborate.

Reyes and Villagomez, who are both members of the Senate Executive Appointments and Governmental Investigations Committee, have vowed to seek Karimipour’s confirmation in the upper house if his name is submitted by the governor.

They said, however, they would not pressure Tenorio to nominate him as it is entirely up to the local chief executive to choose the people who will head each department or agency as well as those who will sit in government boards and commissions.

The Constitution empowers the Senate to review each nomination made by the governor, although that process has come under close scrutiny in recent months following dispute between senators and administration officials as to which appointment must go through the confirmation.

Tenorio’s reaction, according to a political observer, is an offshoot of this lingering battle, but added it is not likely to cause serious rift between the governor, who is a Republican, and the GOP-dominated Legislature.