"RICHMOND — A state Senate committee on Tuesday rejected former Trump administration official Andrew Wheeler for Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Cabinet — a rare snub that is not likely to end the Republican governor’s efforts to install Wheeler as secretary of natural and historic resources.

The General Assembly seldom rejects a governor’s Cabinet pick, but Democrats who control the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee said they could not support Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who led a rollback of Obama-era environmental regulations as Environmental Protection Agency chief under President Donald Trump.

The committee voted 9 to 6 to strike Wheeler’s name from a resolution listing 16 gubernatorial Cabinet picks, with every Democrat voting to remove it and every Republican opposed. There was no discussion of the remaining 15 choices, all of whom were approved."

Laura Vozzella reports for the Washington Post February 1, 2022. [2]