Bacon's Rebellion

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Correction on Departure of Balow

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by

Dick Hall-Sizemore
in , ,

Jillian Balow, ex-Superintendent of Public Instruction

by Dick Hall-Sizemore

In comments to the post about the resignation of Jillian Balow as Superintendent of Public Instruction and her severance pay, I asserted that her appointment was subject to the pleasure of the Governor.  I was wrong.

The heads of almost all agencies, by law, serve at the pleasure of the Governor.  (There is one exception, but more on that later.) However, the position of Superintendent of Public Instruction is established in the Virginia Constitution, which provides that the appointment shall be “for a term coincident with that of the Governor making the appointment.”  The constitution does authorize the General Assembly to modify the term of office.  However, the Virginia Code section mirrors the language in the constitution.  Accordingly, as The Washington Post noted, Balow may have had grounds to sue if she had been fired.

The agency head who is not appointed by the Governor and does not serve at his pleasure is the Director of the Department of Wildlife Resources (formerly Game and Inland Fisheries).  That person is appointed by the Board of Wildlife Resources.  The story on that goes back into the mists of time (early 1970s).  Suffice it to say that hunters and fishermen in Virginia were a strong lobby.

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15 responses to “Correction on Departure of Balow”

  1. walter smith Avatar
    walter smith

    Thank you for the correction. Even if not so, I would still say buying out an agency head for $300k makes an awful lot of sense given the overall costs and importance of the agencies.
    Now would the people on the Left complaining about the buyout please complain about paying the Portsmouth rioters? (You know, the ones with the ever so moderate Louise Lucas)
    Asking for a friend, as usual…

    1. James McCarthy Avatar
      James McCarthy

      Hmmnn!!! If the JC and its acolytes are successful in the militant campaign to oust the bloated DEI cohort at UVA, will it express dismay about any golden parachutes? Asking for Dr. Curiosity.

      1. James C. Sherlock Avatar
        James C. Sherlock

        Like with the Superintendent, it depends on the terms of the contract, doesn’t it counselor?

        1. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          Not entirely!! The Gov and the UVA BOV have great discretion. Whether Balow was covered by a contract is a matter of speculation.

      2. walter smith Avatar
        walter smith

        Let me do some real world math for you.
        These people do nothing of value. They actually cause harm.
        Most will not have “contracts,” like the DEI head at UVA who does have a contract.
        If he can be termed under the contract without any concerns, then he would be. Then you look at all the other worthless employees, who, because the department is worthless, the “evaluations” will all be worthless saying what a great job they did causing division. So, terminating for performance will be tough and the terminated will claim racism, sexism, transism, whateverism. So the best route will be to just close the entire department by BOV edict. Then all the internal departmental DEI incentives should die a natural death, but you would probably need a Provost to order it, because the true believers in the departments won’t want to give up their dream of destroying Martin Luther King’s dream…

        1. James McCarthy Avatar
          James McCarthy

          So, what was the quantum during the tenure of Balow’s contribution to VA that supported her generous parachute? It must be assumed that the Gov was a true believer in her capabilities upon appointment.
          Lovely fantasy concerning the UVA DEI establishment. “Real world math?”

          1. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            He made a bad pick. Hire slowly, fire quickly. And in the real world, problem employees who should have been termed sooner, sue you later. Because the supervisors did not do real reviews and say what was wrong. They just checked the boxes and moved on. So the crappy employee never knows he or she is seen as crappy by the boss, or knows it, but the record doesn’t say it. Employees will fire themselves if they know they are at risk. I do not expect any honest evaluations from worthless departments, so best route is to shut the whole thing down.

          2. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Naw. You can’t run a state agency this way, especially VDOE when it’s felt that big changes need to be made.

            These are agency “leaders” not employees that “evaluations” are done.

            Gotta pick people who can do the job … it’s more a reflection of Youngkin than Barlow IMO.

            When something like this happens, the GA folks who would be asked to be on board with legislative and policy changes… are not.

          3. walter smith Avatar
            walter smith

            Huh? I’m talking about abolishing the DEI departments. But if you have a bad employee anywhere, firing sooner is better than later. Always.

          4. LarrytheG Avatar
            LarrytheG

            Okay. But you have to define the performance metrics in order to “fire” a “bad” employee, no?
            DEI is really nothing more than telling prospective students that you care about diversity, inclusion and equity because that’s something prospective students want to hear, really no different than an
            employer making the same proffer to recruit. Someone said her recently that students were
            showing up already “woke”. Yes. But not because they’ve been “indoctrinated” or brain-washed, but because that’s what young people today value and really they’re saying that the Constitution itself
            should have said that instead of what it came up short saying about “all men”.

            so young people today are idealistic (like their forefathers) and they want less structural racism in higher ed and employers and other institutions.

            DEI is those institutions telling young folks they “get it”.

  2. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    Yep, I also should have recalled that. Still not a contract, though. Just a fixed term. Unless you think the Governor, with a fixed term set by law, has a contract.

    1. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      Indeed, it seems the Constitution simply defines time constraints, the earliest beginning and latest end of the term of the Superintendent.

      It does not seem to constrain the Gov’s authority as in employed at his pleasure or to make the Superintendent a classified State employee with due process rights.

  3. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    More importantly, Yelp’s top ..
    Virginia – Q Barbeque, in Glen Allen

    Thank God it wasn’t Pierce’s in Bill’sburg.

    1. Lefty665 Avatar
      Lefty665

      They have missed it with Allman’s in F’burg. It’s been around as long as Pierce’s or longer.

  4. Kathleen Smith Avatar
    Kathleen Smith

    Go back to the Gilmore administration, same thing happened. Paul Stapleton.

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