Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 15, 1995 TAG: 9507170025
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For evidence, consider a fetid little law passed in relative obscurity this year. It intentionally makes it more difficult for counties to get rid of elected ``constitutional offices'' - even though these offices may be duplicative, outmoded and an unnecessary financial burden for local taxpayers.
The law gives the lie to state legislators' professed interest in encouraging greater efficiency in local government. Plainly, it puts a crimp in maturing counties' ability to professionalize and streamline their operations, and it may obstruct efforts toward regionalization of government services.
You have to say one thing for it, though. The new law offers striking testimony to the continuing clout of Virginia's courthouse crowd - the elected sheriffs, commissioners of revenue, treasurers, circuit court clerks and commonwealth's attorneys.
These constitutional officers, so named because they're specifically designated in the state constitution, often develop political machines that can help determine the election of others, including state lawmakers. They boast state organizations whose endorsements and support are coveted by legislative and statewide candidates.
So who's to notice if lawmakers curry a little favor with the officials by protecting their job security?
The law passed by the assembly grew out of a controversy in Hanover County. A proposal to change the form of the county's government would have eliminated two constitutional offices.
To render such an outcome less likely, the assembly originally passed a bill preventing a board of supervisors from acting on its own to put such a proposal to referendum. The bill said the proposal had to be initiated by residents' petitions, and then approved by voters in two separate referendums in separate years.
The final legislation, amended at Gov. Allen's request, is less putrid, but not by much. It says only one referendum is necessary. However, it mandates two questions on the ballot - one concerning the change in government structure; the other specifically on eliminating the constitutional offices. And it's all or nothing. If one question fails, both fail.
Never mind that many counties, especially growing, urbanizing ones, are trying to restructure government along lines more similar to cities with, for example, professional finance directors, professional police departments and career prosecutors. Of course, counties can still hire professionals. But they are locked into also paying a significant share of costs to maintain the independent constitutional offices.
In trying to protect the turf of courthouse kingpins, the legislature was doing the reverse of what it should be doing: encouraging more counties to eliminate these offices, which are increasingly left behind by changes in government duties and managerial practice.
There's no good reason today for most localities to elect these officials. Their jobs are mostly administrative, involving the carrying out rather than the setting of policy. Too, the jobs can require specialized knowledge and skills, and local candidates with such skills may be in short supply.
In most cases, constitutional officers' duties can be better provided by professionals, hired by and accountable to elected policy-makers. Legislators have rankly put the interest of a few pols in 95 counties above that of hundreds of thousands of Virginians.
by CNB