WASHINGTON — The Senate today approved the appointment of Thomas Gilliland to the Tennessee Valley Authority board, making him the first Georgian to serve on that utility’s governing body.
The confirmation was praised by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., who has been pushing for years to have a Georgian on the board, given that TVA serves 10 North Georgia counties and 129,000 Georgia households.
“The TVA has jurisdiction over power issues that are critical to Georgia, although citizens of Georgia have never been represented on the TVA board,” he said. “This distinguished citizen of our state is extremely knowledgeable about the environmental, recreational and power resources provided by the TVA.”
Mr. Gilliland, of Blairsville, Ga., is executive vice president, secretary and general counsel for United Community Banks, Inc., the third-largest bank holding company in Georgia.
The Senate has been locked in a partisan battle over board nominees, with two left to confirm, as Democrats have protested the lack of Democratic representation.
Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., urged Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to allow confirmation votes on the reappointments of nominees Susan Williams and Bishop WIlliam Graves.
“There’s no reason why the Democratic leader of the Senate should not also soon agree to confirm the president’s reappointment of two excellent current board members,” Sens. Alexander and Corker said in a joint statement.
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