Sen. Tony Rand's impending resignation will leave a very big hole in the state Senate's leadership. No one senator should be appointed to fill it.
Over his 22-year career, Rand has been a major force in the legislature, probably second in influence only to Sen. Marc Basnight, who leads the chamber as its president pro tem.
Rand has been so powerful, in fact, that senators would be wise to assure that his replacement as Senate majority leader does not carry the chairmanship of the Rules Committee, too, as Rand did. The combination of these two very important posts simply concentrated too much power in one person.
For some, Rand was too liberal. For others, too conservative. He teamed with Basnight to forge what has mostly been a progressive and pragmatic agenda of educational, environmental, health-care and business-climate improvements. He also kept the Senate's controlling Democrats from venturing too far to the liberal side on many issues.
The majority leader runs the Democratic caucus in the Senate, steering senators to the stands they will take as a united group. Given the post's important role in raising funds that are then divided up for the reelection bids of the majority party's senators, the post carries a great deal of power. Basnight has endorsed Sen. Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat, for the job.
Rand of Fayeteville had more power than most majority leaders as rules chairman. In the Senate, this chairman has enormous power over the flow of legislation. In short, senators who wanted their bills to advance needed to stay on the friendly side of Tony Rand.
These two posts should never be handed to the same senator.
It's clear that Basnight preferred Rand's holding of the two jobs because Rand played a key role in Basnight's maintenance of power for the last 17 years. Rand is smart, cunning, a masterful politician and endearingly funny.
The old Basnight team is beginning to come apart. Sen. David Weinstein of Lumberton retired a few weeks ago. Basnight has health problems and there are rumors that he will retire soon.
When Senate Democrats meet to formally choose Rand's successor, they must assure that the two posts Rand now holds do not both go to the same senator again. And, as Republicans consider how they will run the Senate should they take chamber control, they should follow the same policy regarding the two posts. The legislature is best served when power is shared by a wide array of members and not concentrated in the hands of a select few.
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