Whether it’s Obama, Trump, Beshear or Bevin, executive orders are being overused | Opinion

As someone who served in the legislative branch of a city, county and state government, I admit to having a soft spot for the “peoples branch” of government. To that end, I have been both privately and publicly critical of the use of executive orders as a policy making tool in government. It did not matter to me if the offending individual was named Obama, Trump or Biden, neither did it matter if they were named Beshear, Bevin or Beshear (again). The laws of the land are to be passed by the legislative branch and executed by the executive branch.

To wit, let’s review the powers vested in the executive branch by the U.S. Constitution in Article 2. Briefly, the powers of the Presidency include Commander in Chief of the Armed Services, the power to grant pardons and reprieves, the power to make treaties (with the advice and consent of the Senate) appoint Supreme Court Justices, cabinet appointments, ambassadors and other positions with advice and consent. Finally, the President “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed”. The powers of the Governor of Kentucky are very similar.

All of this begs the question….why are all these governors and presidents attempting to make law via executive order?

Common and proper uses of executive orders in Kentucky government are to appoint citizens to various boards and commissions, or positions of employment. Also, executive orders are used to implement emergency regulations while permanent regulations are going through the process to become final. These are proper uses of executive orders. Although the scope of the federal government is larger, the same generally goes for the President. It is within the development and implementation of regulations, as well as the appointments, that the executive branch can make policy bend in their direction.

However, when these executive orders just ignore the laws and make policy, that is where people of all political beliefs should be concerned. An obvious recent example from the federal government is President Donald Trump’s executive order to not recognize birthright citizenship, or to “delay” the law requiring Tik Tok to sell. A recent example in Kentucky was Gov. Andy Beshear’s executive order on outlawing conversion therapy. Whereas I agree with the concept, it did (in the opinion of many) infringe on the rights of clergy to counsel.

Whatever your opinion on these issues, they all made what is effectively a new law. And there are many more instances to cite. These are done in contradiction of their constitutional responsibilities. They ignored the law and made their own.

The proper method is to use the bully pulpit of the office to convince the people and lawmakers to change the law or the Constitution (to the extent they can).

Of course, many of us are happy when an executive order is issued that they agree with (I have an idea for you Governor!). But we shouldn’t be, because we are a nation of laws, and we must live up to them to protect ourselves from becoming a monarchy.

The immediate thought for many is to point to Trump and say he is trying to be king. Certainly, he is attempting to consolidate more power into the executive branch. That should concern everyone, simply because at some point, someone you disagree with will hold the office in the future, and you don’t want them to make new law.

The attempt by anyone to consolidate power in the executive branch does not automatically succeed. The difference between America and a monarchy isn’t the actions of a president or a governor. It is the failure of the other two branches of government to do their job. To act as a check on the executive branch, as prescribed in the Constitution. Our system of government only works when everyone does their job. Thankfully the legislative branch in Kentucky has held up their end of the bargain when needed, regardless of the party of the Governor. The “people’s branch” in Washington could learn an important lesson from them.

And don’t even get me started on pardons ...

Adam Koenig spent 16 years as a Republican Kentucky State Representative. He owns a consulting company, Koenig Public Policy and Political Consulting. He can be reached at adam@kpppc.us.