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Senate Gubernatorial Committee advances some appointments, puts others off for week

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Senate Gubernatorial Committee advanced three nominations Wednesday — while holding back several others.

The legislative committee charged with the initial vetting of appointments made to boards and commissions held a public hearing Wednesday afternoon on various nominations made by Gov. Mike Parson.

The only appointees advanced by the committee were nominated to the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation: Mary “Mimi” Stiritz, Thomas O. Kuypers, and Robert Paul Wiegers.

The committee took five other appointments under consideration but did not vote on any of them. Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, who chairs the committee, noted that a committee member had asked for more time and they will bring those appointments for a vote next week.

Those nominees included former Sen. Brian Munzlinger to the Board of Probation and Parole; Barry Orscheln, CEO of Orscheln Industries, to the Conservation Commission; and Mary Sheid to fill the last remain vacancy on the State Board of Education.

All three faced questions on how they would plan to take on the roles and what they view those roles to be. As a whole, the committee seemed open to the appointments with comments varying from “fine addition” to “right person.”

Clifford Kent Holekamp, nominated as a member of the Missouri Development Finance Board, and Scott R. Ream, nominated as a member of the State Board of Optometry, were also before the Senate Gubernatorial Committee but did not advance Wednesday.