Speaker's right to keep trying to expand governor's Cabinet

House Speaker Bobby Harrell is a firm believer in the old adage that begins — "if at first you don't succeed." That's why he's trying again, with yet another House bill aimed at letting the voters decide whether they want to increase the governor's Cabinet by allowing the chief executive to appoint certain constitutional officers. Legislative history says the speaker's biggest hurdle is in the Senate rather than the House.

Currently, the voters elect the state's nine executive branch, statewide constitutional officers, from the governor down to the adjutant general. Former Gov. Carroll Campbell hoped to eventually see most of those officers included in the Cabinet system he launched during his tenure. But government restructuring has stalled since the Campbell era even though there have been some faltering attempts, primarily in the House, to take several key changes to the voters in the form of constitutional amendments.

Rep. Harrell's latest effort has the potential of making four of the constitutional officers — superintendent of education, secretary of state, adjutant general and commissioner of agriculture — gubernatorial appointees and members of the Cabinet. That's more than the House has been willing to place on the ballot in recent years. In 2005, for example, the House-passed bill that got nowhere in the Senate would have placed only the secretary of state and the superintendent of education on the ballot.

But at least the House has been willing to give the voters some say on the issue. Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell tested the waters in his chamber early in the 2007 session and found continued staunch opposition to even allowing the voters to consider the change. It should be noted there are senators more adamantly opposed than some of those who have held the offices. One former secretary of state, for example, even advocated abolishing that office while he was serving and several past superintendents of education have said that post should be appointed rather than elected.

But Sen. McConnell contends the tendency to "pick and choose" which constitutional officers should be on the restructuring ballot creates too much political resistance. He says the ballot proposal will never get a two-thirds vote in the Senate unless the Legislature agrees to "let the public vote on the model of management and put every one of them on the ballot." He does concede, however, that the attorney general should continue to be elected because he is the chief prosecutor who defends both the legislative and executive branches. He also believes at least one of the state's financial officers — preferably the treasurer — should continue to be elected.

The only constitutional officers left out of Rep. Harrell's bill are the attorney general, treasurer, comptroller general and lieutenant governor. Rep. Harrell agrees with Sen. McConnell on the attorney general and notes that an elected treasurer and comptroller general are key components of the five-member Budget and Control Board which he wants to see retained in a much reduced fashion. The speaker contends that one of the main reasons to keep the board — which includes the governor and the chairmen of the Senate and House fiscal committees, is to ensure that key officials from the executive and legislative branch are the "final sign off" on borrowing money for major projects.

The speaker did say he is perfectly willing to let the voters decide whether the lieutenant governor should run as a team with the governor. He said he hadn't included the lieutenant governor in the package because he'd been told the Senate would never agree to allow the governor to choose that body's presiding officer — the role now filled by the lieutenant governor. In a statement he said the proposed expansion of the governor's Cabinet would "make the governor more effective in governing and the winners of this change will be the citizens of our state."

Sen. McConnell and Rep. Harrell are in agreement on the need to restructure the Budget and Control Board and give most of that huge agency's functions to a Department of Administration under the governor. Sen. McConnell already has introduced a bill that would do just that. While that would be a major restructuring breakthrough this year, there also is no better time to finally allow the voters to decide whether they also want to give the next governor more clout through an expanded Cabinet. Is there any good reason, for example, for this to be the only state in the nation that elects an adjutant general? That is the kind of question that is best answered by public debate and can only be settled at the ballot box — if only the Legislature would give voters the chance.