Rod Chapel, formerly the head of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and currently a commissioner with the Administrative Hearing Commission, is among the three nominees to be considered by Gov. Matt Blunt for a vacant seat on the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western
District.

The spot is open because Blunt named Judge Patricia Breckenridge to the Missouri Supreme Court.

All the nominees were named by the Appellate Judicial Comission, headed by Laura Denvir Stith, chief justice of the Missouri Supreme Court.

Other nominees are Alok Ahuja, a partner with the Kansas City law firm of Lathrop & Gage, L.C. (The firm’s clients include Blunt’s campaign) and Zel M. Fischer, an associate circuit judge in Atchison County.

Blunt has 60 days to select one to fill the vacancy. If the governor should fail to do so, the Missouri Constitution directs the commission to make the appointment.