Members of the Legislative Research Commission and chamber leadership are scheduled to meet Wednesday to discuss a search committee for the commission’s next director.
The previous head, Bobby Sherman resigned following an internal report on the failings that led to sexual harassment complaints against former Rep. John Arnold.
While Sherman defended the LRC’s handling of the case, a subsequent audit released in January uncovered poor management and communication policies in the organization. One of the biggest challenges facing the next director, according to Republican Senate President Robert Stivers, is maintaining a proper distance between LRC employees and the politics of both chambers.
"The balancing approach is to make sure this is a non-partisan, apolitical staff that you have certain control on but not too many controls on because you don't want there to be a hint of preference or partisanship between chambers or parties. And that's hard to grasp because it's delicate to do that," Stivers said Tuesday.
Stivers told reporters he will support a motion by House Speaker Greg Stumbo to move forward with a search committee and he hopes to see a new director in place by July.
