Tuesday, however, 90 House members made a token attempt at restructuring state government when they approved a bill to allow voters to decide if the superintendent of education and the secretary of state should remain constitutional officers to be elected by the public or whether they should be appointed by the governor.
This isn't the first attempt at restructuring. Gov. Mark Sanford made it a part of his plan before he took office. His efforts follow those of former Republican Gov. Carroll Campbell, who appointed a government restructuring study commission in 1991.
While the House bill is a start, it isn't even a third of a loaf. Sanford asked three years ago that legislators consider changes in seven constitutional offices. In addition to education and state, he wanted appointive power for attorney general, treasurer, comptroller general, commissioner of agriculture and adjutant general.
House leaders said last week that two offices might be all they could muster for a positive vote this year. Too many people were against removing other offices from a direct vote of the people.
Many can make a case for the appointment of all constitutional offices except the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. South Carolina, for example, is the only state to elect the adjutant general, who is in charge of the S.C. National Guard. Former Secretary of State Jim Miles tried for years to get the legislature to eliminate the popular election of the office. According to The Associated Press, Secretary of State Mark Hammond has an opposing view. He said the plan would bury his office in bureaucracy.
Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum follows her predecessor in acknowledging that the office probably should be appointive. Like the job of running the National Guard, the superintendent of education has more important things to do than raise money to run a political campaign, not to mention the time it takes to run a campaign. Who needs to elect the secretary of agriculture? Policy emanating from this office should come through the governor's office.
This minor step toward a fuller restructuring of state government probably will move to the Senate after a final vote in the House next week. A similar proposal in 2004 didn't fare well. It lingered in committee.
Giving up power isn't something public officials do easily, even though this governor is following his predecessor and moving in the right direction.
