Governor Brad Henry issues first veto of the year

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Exercising his veto power for the first time this year, Gov. Brad Henry rejected a bill that set up procedures for the appointment of state attorneys. <br><br>Senate Bill 1152, by

Wednesday, March 31st 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Exercising his veto power for the first time this year, Gov. Brad Henry rejected a bill that set up procedures for the appointment of state attorneys.

Senate Bill 1152, by Sen. Dick Wilkerson, would have required the governor to appoint an attorney employed by the state in cases where the attorney general's office had been disqualified from a civil action or proceeding.

Wilkerson, D-Atwood, said the bill would prevent the state from spending money on outside legal counsel when there were plenty of attorneys on the state payroll.

In his veto message, Henry said that while the idea has merit, the legislation is inflexible and would create an undue hardship on the employing agency to have its attorneys randomly assigned to other agencies.

``Additionally, the assigned attorney may not have either the time or the expertise to represent the requesting agency,'' Henry wrote in his message.

Wilkerson said he spoke with Henry about his concerns and agrees the language in the bill should be changed to give the governor more flexibility.

``He told me what his reservations were, and I agreed with him,'' Wilkerson said. ``So, there's always next year.''