I

INTRODUCTION: THE PROBLEM OF SELECTING PUBLIC OFFICIALS

In order to perform the numerous functions of presentday government a vast army of persons must be selected. In numerous ways and by various State agencies men are appointed to State boards, commissions, inspectorships, and other positions. But the people, to whom all offices belong and for whom all offices exist, still possess the right to select most officials. They choose legislators to enact certain policies into law; they make provision for officials to enforce the law when made, some of these executive officers being elected outright by the people, others being appointed; and they select still another group of State officials to declare what a statute means and apply it to particular cases. But these do not constitute the whole public service: a still larger number of persons must be chosen to carry on the work of government in the local areas such as counties, townships, towns and cities, and school districts.

Thus it has come about that the voter in Iowa faces the difficult task of attempting to decide too much on election day. He staggers under the load placed upon him by the primary and the general election laws of the State. Confronted by a long, cumbersome ballot at the primary elections in June and again at the regular elections in November, he realizes how hopeless it is to vote intelligently either for the candidates who seek the nomi

nation or for the nominees who seek election. Moreover, the voter's problem of selecting public servants is rendered still more complex by the survival of the Jacksonian principle of rotation in office, which necessitates the frequent selection of officials, and by the impossibility of getting reliable information about all the candidates upon the many different tickets. It is no great wonder, then, that many voters are discouraged and take little interest in the nomination and the election of public officials.

The character of the work performed by all the officials in State and local government emphasizes as nothing else can the importance of care in their selection. It makes a great deal of difference whether or not a food inspector is honest and efficient; corrupt building inspectors may be responsible for the fall of a building with resultant loss of life; a careless or inefficient mine inspector may be responsible for a mine disaster; dishonest medical or dental examiners may permit the unfit to practice; railroad commissioners controlled by the carriers may refuse or neglect to enforce laws directed against the railroads; judges may, on on insufficient grounds, nullify progressive legislation; and inefficient or dishonest legislators may enact laws difficult of interpretation, worded so as to favor special interests, or they may even refuse to act at all. Thus it seems of vital importance that provision be made for such methods of selection as will secure public officials who are most efficient and most responsive to the popular will. This, indeed, is the problem involved in the selection of public officials.

II

SELECTION OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS IN IOWA

IN general the public officials of Iowa are all those public servants who hold offices created by State statutes and the State Constitution. They are to be distinguished from public employees in that the latter hold subordinate appointive positions and work under the supervision of superior officers. Public officials may be classified into three groups according to the method by which they are designated to fill the State and local offices: first, those who are elected by the people; secondly, those who are appointed to office; and thirdly, those who hold office by virtue of the fact that they occupy certain other offices. It is in this order that the writer proposes to consider the methods of selecting State and local officials in Iowa.

SELECTION OF STATE OFFICIALS

In Iowa two State-wide elections are now held every two years before the selection of State officials is complete. Instead of the unregulated and unsatisfactory nominating system of party caucuses and conventions, which designated candidates for office previous to 1907, there now exists for the same purpose a State-controlled primary. All candidates for the various legislative and executive offices to be voted on at the general election must comply with the requirements of the State law before they may submit their claims to all the members of their political party at a primary or nominating election

held on the first Monday in June of the even-numbered years. The successful party candidate for an office is determined by a plurality vote - except when no candidate receives thirty-five percent of the votes cast, in which event the statute legalizes nomination by the oldfashioned convention of party delegates. It should be noted, however, that judges are nominated at the same time and place, twice as many as there are vacancies on the bench to fill, by all the voters irrespective of party affiliations.2

The members of the State legislature of Iowa have always been elected by the people. The qualifications, methods of selection, and terms of office of Senators and Representatives differ in ways still attributable to the old American belief in the check and balance system. The number of Senators is fixed at fifty to be elected by the people of as many senatorial districts. The number of Representatives is not to exceed one hundred and eight, the people of each of the ninety-nine counties electing one, while the nine most populous counties are entitled to one additional member each.3

The Organic Act of the Territory of Iowa provided that the President and the Senate of the United States should appoint the Governor, the Secretary, and the Attorney of the Territory. Department heads such as Auditor, Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public Instruction, for whom there was provision in Territorial legislation, were made appointive by the Governor and the Legislative Council, but when Iowa became a State in 1846 many of these offices were made elective. Although the State Constitution of 1846 did not provide for a Lieutenant-Governor the creation of such an office was favored at the constitutional convention of 1857: pro

vision for the direct election of this officer was made because he would be called upon to serve as Governor in case of emergency. At the same time there were created the offices of Secretary of State, Auditor of State, Treasurer of State, and Attorney General - all to be elected by the people for two years.*

With the development of railroads in the State of Iowa the proper control of these corporations became a serious problem, the solution of which the General Assembly sought in the creation of a board of railroad commissioners. The board was made appointive by the Governor and the Executive Council. The appointive board, however, did not meet with universal approval, and so Governor Larrabee suggested that the commissioners be made elective by the people or appointive by the Governor and the Senate. Thereupon the General Assembly made provision for an elective board of three members for a six-year term.5

Until the advent of Andrew Jackson it seems to have been taken for granted that State judges should be appointed. Influenced by Jacksonian theories of government, however, the idea of the popular election of judges grew rapidly in favor. The proper method of choosing judges was one of the debated questions before the constitutional conventions of 1844 and 1846, and ex-Governor Lucas voiced the sentiment of the majority when he declared the best way to be the election of district judges by the people and the appointment of Supreme Court Justices by a joint ballot of the members of the legislature.6

The selection of Supreme Court Justices by the General Assembly did not give entire satisfaction. The sentiment for elective judges grew so rapidly that in the