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Editorial: Selection off to bumpy start State Applicant list is released: The new process for the selection of state constitutional officials may eventually live up to its promise of openness and transparency. Commercial Appeal Newly empowered Tennessee Republicans in the General Assembly promised a more business-like and transparent process for the selection of their nominees for treasurer, comptroller and secretary of state. For awhile Friday, the transparency piece looked broken. The deadline for submitting applications for the three constitutionally mandated jobs was about to pass, and GOP leaders were saying the list of applicants would be kept secret until today. By the end of Friday, however, GOP leaders had seen the light and so had their list. Fifteen Republicans had applied for the jobs. The GOP gained control of the process on Nov. 4 when they obtained a majority of the seats in the General Assembly. The turnover effectively left Democratic appointees John Morgan, the comptroller, Dale Sims, the treasurer, and Riley Darnell, the secretary of state, without jobs. The selection method revealed by Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris of Collierville and House Republican Leader Jason Mumpower of Bristol seems promising. It required candidates to submit applications containing 30 detailed questions about their personal and professional backgrounds by Friday to the two leaders' offices. A nominating committee of eight GOP legislators will screen applicants, selecting three from each pool to testify at a public hearing streamed live on the legislature's Web site. Citizens can submit comments on the applicants via e-mail, fax or mail by Jan. 5. Then the panel submits a nominee for each of the offices to the House and Senate GOP caucuses. The officers will be elected after the General Assembly convenes Jan. 13. A majority vote of the 132 members is required for each office. It is, as Norris suggested, a somewhat more business-like approach to filling the $180,000-per-year jobs. The public comment phase could be a very useful addition, possibly turning up something about candidates that legislators might miss. The decision to Webcast the hearings is an encouraging development. The main thing to watch, of course, is whether the party installs competent professionals in those positions, which has been the case among the Democrats in the past, for the most part, or it awards the jobs on the basis of political loyalty. The so-called "constitutional officials" of Tennessee make important decisions for the state's taxpayers. These are not roles that amateurs can play very well.
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