By Kathryn Skelton,Staff Writer

AUGUSTA – Perhaps the newfound harmony at the Workers’ Compensation Board was premature.

After Labor Committee Democrats indicated on Thursday they were ready to confirm five of Gov. John Baldacci’s six nominees to the board, Baldacci pulled the entire slate.

The committee initially heard from the six nominees and Executive Director Paul Dionne last week. Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, said legislators unanimously supported Dionne’s nomination on the spot and opted to deliberate the others.

“I have never seen (candidates) pulled after a nomination hearing was held,” said Strimling, the Senate co-chair. “We were disappointed he decided to do this.”

In a party caucus, he said it became clear none of the Democrats would vote for John Cooney, a management director on the Workers’ Compensation Board since 2001.

Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Auburn, said Republicans had been ready to vote for all six. What others took as a bad attitude by Cooney during his interview, she interpreted as nerves, Snowe-Mello said.

“Not once during my confirmation hearing did any legislator express concerns about any of my responses to their questions,” said Cooney, for whom Thursday’s events came as a surprise. “I have always conducted myself professionally as a member of the board … this is politics at its worst.”

Instead of pushing forward a divided effort, the governor decided it was best to pull the names and regroup, said Alan Stearns, senior policy adviser for workers compensation.

“Workers comp is a very delicate policy area where any imbalance or any small fight can have real implications for workers or business,” Stearns said.

In the next two months the board will decide whether to extend benefits to injured workers, a decision with millions of dollars hanging in the balance. Stearns said “the dialogue would be much more tense” going into that discussion if the Labor Committee vote had gone ahead.

Five of the six nominees currently serve on the board. Legislation signed by Baldacci last April required that the make-up be officially recast. Board directors will continue to serve until someone else is successfully nominated for their seats, Stearns said.

Names that were pulled this time may reappear. Nominees had already been agreed upon by the governor, the AFL-CIO and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. Each trade group seats three members on the board.

“After a year of success … we never supposed that the Labor Committee would choose to create controversy where we didn’t think controversy” existed, Stearns said.

The Labor Committee has asked Baldacci for new names within the next 30 days. Snowe-Mello said that’s probably an impossible deadline. It’s difficult to find people willing to serve on the board, she said.