Blunt picks House member for mediation board

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Republican House member from suburban St. Louis has been nominated for a state board overseeing public employee elections on whether to join unions.

Jim Avery says he will resign if confirmed by the Senate to the state Board of Mediation. His spot would expire in 2011.

Avery says he wants to spend more time at home and that it has been difficult juggling his political and military careers. The Crestwood man is in his third term in the House.

Gov. Matt Blunt in 2005 cut the state Board of Mediation's budget and then signed an executive order shifting its duties to the state labor commission. Blunt has since re-created the board.

Blunt on Friday also named former Democratic state Sen. Wayne Goode to the Second State Capitol Commission.