By MATT CHANDLER
Buffalo Law Journal

The wait is over.

Eleven months after he was nominated by President Barack Obama to fill one of three vacant posts on the National Labor Relations Board, Buffalo labor attorney Mark Pearce is heading to Washington.

Pearce, 56, a founding partner in the law firm Creighton Pearce Johnsen & Giroux, has been in limbo since Obama announced the nomination last spring. Saturday, he was one of 15 nominees the president named to administrative positions through the use of recess appointments, authority that allows the president to bypass a vacationing Senate to fill vacant posts. The move is considered politically divisive, an issue Obama addressed in a press release announcing the appointments.

"I must act in the interest of the American people and exercise my authority to fill these positions on an interim basis," Obama said. "Most of the men and women were approved by Senate committees months ago, yet still await a vote of the Senate. I simply cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of the basic functioning of government."

The NLRB had been operating with only two of its five board positions filled, leading to key labor issues being left undecided.

Pearce takes office April 7. Joining him on the board is Craig Becker, associate general counsel to both the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations, whose nomination was staunchly opposed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

A third Obama nominee to the NLRB, Republican Brian Hayes, was not included on the list of recess appointments.

Pearce says he hasn't let the wait bother him, and has continued with business as usual at the firm he co-founded.

"I didn't anticipate it taking this long," he said. "I was anxious to get to the job, but I had to exhibit patience."

He said the wait meant he had to carefully choose what cases he took on, avoiding those that might become protracted. "During this interim period, with the help of my partners, I was able to work through and complete some interesting cases," he said.

Pearce, who began his legal career working in the Buffalo office of the NLRB, says he is excited to bring his career full circle.

"That job was such a fulfilling experience for me, I ended up staying there for 15 years," he said. "It (his appointment to the NLRB) belies the adage ‘You can't go home again,' because I will be going home."

Though he will be leaving behind the firm that bears his name to head to Washington, Pearce says his clients are in good hands with his partners.

One of those partners, Jonathan Johnsen, says the firm is proud of Pearce, though he will be missed.

"We are all very happy for him," he said. "This is a very prestigious appointment, and it is well-deserved. He has worked many years representing the working people here in Buffalo. This is an industrial town, and I think Mark is going to bring that experience to Washington and share what it is like here on the ground level."

As for the partisan political maneuvering that stalled his appointment for nearly a year, Pearce said it will have no impact on his job once he begins work next week.

"It's just business," he said of the work that lies ahead. "Politics is gone from my mind, and fortunately, I wasn't involved in the politics."

The board has had three vacancies since January 2008. The U.S. Supreme Court last month heard arguments in a lawsuit that challenges the legality of decisions made by an NLRB panel of two.

"There will probably be a backlog, but I won't know with any specificity until I arrive next week," he said Tuesday. "Our ability to get it all done will be good. We are well-staffed, and the staff has been waiting for us. It's sort of like a finely-tuned craft waiting for the driver, and I'm one of the drivers finally showing up."

In a statement released by the NLRB following the announcement, Chairman Wilma Liebman said of Pearce's and Becker's appointments, "I look forward to beginning work with them, and especially to addressing cases that have been pending for a long time."

For Pearce, the appointment is not only a chance to return to his legal roots and apply his labor expertise to issues with national ramifications, but also a chance to fill a prominent post in Washington, D.C., with a Buffalo attorney, a point he is proud of.

"I think that it's huge. Buffalo has very competent attorneys, and our labor bar is as good as any bar in the country," he said. "Having been tapped from Buffalo means something to this city, and I don't plan to disappoint."