CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Senate President Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall, 02) is criticizing state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey for his public appraisals of the work of the Legislature in an article published Sunday in The Parkersburg News and Sentinel.
“For the Attorney General, truthfully, to come out and say that we’re not deferring enough to him, I think, is inappropriate,” Kessler said on Monday’s MetroNews “Talkline” in response to Morrisey’s comments.
“There are separations of branches and he’s in the executive branch. We’re in the legislative branch. His role is to enforce the laws once we pass them.”
In an interview with The Parkersburg News and Sentinel’s Michael Erb, Morrisey said this year’s problems with legislation dealing with juvenile offenders, water protections and the minimum wage could have been avoided if the Legislature had consulted more with the AG’s Office during the drafting process.
“They could work with the attorney general’s office to see that there aren’t going to be any ‘oops’ moments,” Morrisey told Erb. “We ultimately are going to have to defend these laws and it’s much better if we have some visibility into the process early on so that we can help defend the legislators’ prerogative.”
Morrisey said state legislators don’t take time to draft legislation “the right way” and, because of that, make unintentional mistakes.
Kessler said, if Morrisey wants to legislate, he should run to be a legislator.
“I do take offense when folks criticize the Legislature, not just the 134 hard-working Democrats and Republicans that are down here trying to do the people’s work but, even more importantly, the staff–particularly our very capable, confident legal staff that we have working for the Legislature,” Kessler said.
“To suggest that the Legislature and/or its staff is incapable of doing it without oversight from the AG, I just think, is preposterous.”
Kessler said laws with technical or other issues only made up a small percentage of the more than 200 total bills the Legislature passed during the 2014 Regular Legislative Session.
“I’m not going to defer to the Attorney General or any executive agency or executive official to influence the legislative process. We don’t need their blessing or their approval prior to passing legislation,” he said.