IV

PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE METHODS OF SELECTING PUBLIC OFFICIALS

THE question of the relation among the departments of State government as well as the problem of their organization has repeatedly challenged public attention in recent years. To-day many forces and agencies are at work attempting to bring some order out of the general chaos. The problem of how to select public officials in order to secure the greatest degree of efficiency and responsibility finds an important place in the plans which have already been put forward for the reorganization of both the legislative and the executive branches of State government.

STATE OFFICIALS

Governor Hodges of Kansas has for some time been an ardent champion of a single-chamber State legislature to consist of one or two members elected from each congressional district for four or six years. He proposes that such a commission or Legislative Assembly shall meet under the presidency of the Governor whenever the "exigencies of the public business" may require.79 Governor O'Neal of Alabama would retain the bicameral legislature but reduce the number of legislators, abolish county representation, and elect some members at large and others from districts created on a population basis.so

The People's Power League of Oregon has prepared a plan which calls for the abolition of the State Senate and

the creation of a legislative body to consist of sixty elective members, each legislative district having at least two members chosen by some method of proportional representation. The Governor and the defeated candidates for that office who represent parties which were entitled to recognition as such at the preceding election are also to be members of the legislature.81

It is the need of reorganizing the State executive department, however, that has been emphasized in recent investigations. Most of the suggested changes are based on two objections to the present method of selecting executive and administrative officers: first, the people attempt to elect too many officers, and secondly, appointments are unsystematic and without central control or responsibility. Accordingly, plans for the reorganization of State administration are modeled on the federal plan. Under such a system an elective Governor will assume the responsibility for the administration of legislative policies, and will select and keep as his aids men who are not out of touch with his policy. In the absence of guaranties of effective and harmonious administration it is urged that some scheme ought to be put into operation to secure responsible government under the supervision of the Governor.

The efficiency engineers who recently investigated the State administration of Iowa recommend that the Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor, and Attorney General be continued as elective officers. They would abolish the Executive Council and group practically all the other administrative officers under seven departments with a Director General at the head of each. The Governor, as the leading Director General, is to appoint the other six with the consent of the Senate.

The proposed plan also provides for the appointment, presumably by the Governor and the Senate, of a State printer and binder, a State purchasing agent, a civil service commission, and on account of the overlapping of duties lodges the duties of the board of parole with the board of control. Furthermore, all executive officials except the five constitutional officers and the heads of the departments are to be appointed after merit tests by the civil service commission.82

The Joint Committee on Retrenchment and Reform of the General Assembly considered the report of the efficiency engineers above outlined and published the results of its deliberations on November 12, 1914. They suggest the appointment of the Attorney General by the Governor and the continued election of the other three constitutional officers. All other public offices are to be grouped under three departments with heads appointed by the Governor. The committee omits further reference to the method of selecting officials in Iowa.

An efficiency commission of thirty members appointed by the Governor of Minnesota made a similar investigation of the administration in that State. The plan proposed, favors the grouping of related administrative officers in departments so as to avoid constitutional changes as to method of selection. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, and Treasurer are continued as elective officials; a tax commission, a board of education, and a board of regents are to be appointed by the Governor, and an unpaid civil service commission of three members is to be selected by the Governor and the Senate. Practically all the rest of the administrative work is to be divided among six departments, each under a director, who is to appoint the heads of

divisions or bureaus under him; while all other public officials and employees are to be chosen under civil service rules.83

The Oregon plan provides for the election of a Governor and a State Auditor for terms of four years, and requires the Governor to appoint the Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, as well as a State printer, superintendent of public instruction, secretary of labor, and State business manager — all to hold office during the Governor's pleasure and with such officials as may be provided by law to make up the Governor's cabinet. Furthermore, the Governor shall take over the control of the organization and management of all State business, State institutions, and public functions governed or managed either wholly or in part by boards or commissions, although he may continue such boards and commissions. The Governor shall appoint the State manager from any part of the country, but he alone shall be responsible to the people for results.84

Another plan provides for a Governor elected for a comparatively long term and "subject to recall under certain defined conditions", and also provides for an Executive Council patterned after the President's cabinet. The members of this council appointed by the Governor would be a Controller, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Commissioner of Public Works, "and the like" - all subject to removal by the Governor - while their subordinates would be chosen after civil service examinations.8 85

Feeling their incompetence to criticise the judicial system of Iowa or the methods of selecting judges, the efficiency engineers who investigated the State government referred to the proposal of an eminent legal scholar.

This plan, patterned after the English system, calls for but one court to consist of an elective chief justice and associate justices appointed by the chief justice or by the chief justice and the Senate for life. This court would consist of as many divisions as seem necessary to carry on the judicial work of the whole State, thus displacing the present Supreme Court, the district and the superior courts, and the justice of the peace courts.86

An appointive judiciary has also been recommended. In New York it is said that though elective judges are supposed to be in accord with the spirit of the times they are in fact rather "in accord with the sentiment of political bosses and the reactionary powers behind them", and hence it is suggested that to "inject an element of conspicuous responsibility into the making of judicial nominations" the Governor shall recommend candidates to the people. Those dissatisfied with the recommendations of the Governor may file a petition of counter-nominations. All nominations are then to go on the ballot without party label, though the candidates of the Governor will be indicated as being "Recommended by the Governor". The theory back of the plan is that the nominations of the Governor will be so satisfactory as to bring forth no opposing candidates. In practice, then, it will provide an appointive judiciary, subject to popular confirmation or "substitution"',87

COUNTY OFFICIALS

To-day the county, as an organization which collects and expends thousands of dollars yearly, should be managed as a business corporation by a few men who have time and talent for the job, selected according to short ballot principles.88 It was to secure efficient business.