SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Senate still hasn't approved Gov. Pat Quinn's selection of a 29-year-old with no police experience to head the Illinois State Police.

Jonathon Monken, a West Point graduate and former mortgage banker, has been acting director since he was named to the post in March. The state Senate must approve the appointment before Monken can drop "acting" from his title.

Democratic Sen. Tony Munoz, who heads the committee which reviews gubernatorial appointments, said legislators have been too busy with other matters, like approving a state budget.

"Given what we've been going through with the budget and the end of session, that's why we haven't really done" Monken's appointment, Munoz said. "His is a little bit harder. I don't know when we're going to take it up."

But others, including, David Luechtefeld, an Okawville Republican, are skeptical that is the reason it has taken months. Munoz's committee has approved the heads of at least four other state agencies.

"I don't think that's a real good excuse," Luechtefeld said. "It's pretty easy to deal with this. We're here. We're sitting around. We're not doing a whole lot."

Messages left Friday by The Associated Press for Munoz were not immediately returned.

Monken's appointment came as a surprise to some. He replaced Larry Trent, who was with ISP for more than two decades before former Gov. Rod Blagojevich appointed him director in 2003.

But Quinn has defended the nomination.

He said Monken is a leader officers can look up to. Monken, who graduated in the top 1 percent of his class at West Point, served in Kosovo and led more than 100 combat missions while he was a platoon leader in Iraq.

The state police union, Illinois Troopers Lodge 41 of the Fraternal Order of Police, has said it is keeping an open mind when it comes to Monken's lack of police experience.

In the meantime, Monken has been going through training required of state troopers, including firearms training and interrogation techniques, said Illinois State Police spokesman Scott Compton.