Election of the Director of an Institution

[Jonathan Buhacoff]

Proposal:

Each institution shall be headed by a Director.

The Director of an institution shall be elected by the legislature for a term not to exceed 10 years.

A newly elected Director shall immediately take the oath of office and begin serving the elected term.

The legislature shall elect the director of an institution no earlier than 90 days before the expiration of the prior director’s term and no later than 90 days after the last day of the prior Director’s term.

If a Director resigns or becomes incapacitated prior to the end of that Director’s term, the legislature shall elect the next director no later than 90 days after the last day of office of the prior Director.

Intent:

The director of an institution should be competent and capable and have the confidence of the legislature that the institution will execute its mission and fulfill its purpose in accordance with the charter that the legislature enacted. To be accountable to the people, the director is elected by the legislature and may be impeached by the legislature.

Strong and independent institutions taking care of important national concerns both lighten the load of the chief of the executive branch and limit the power of the chief of the executive branch.

Discussion:

The executive branch wields the power of government and it is the legislature’s duty to ensure that power is wielded responsibly and to regulate the use of that power to prevent or deter abuse or punish abuse.

The establishment of institutions is a strong tool for ensuring that important government powers are well-regulated. This removes some responsibility from the chief executive and also prevents the chief executive from abusing power. The legislature elects the director of an institution and does not give the chief executive any power to hire or separate people working for that institution. This shields the institution from the whims of an executive who may be trying to abuse power to direct the institution to do something which it is forbidden to do or which is contrary to its purpose. This is important because one of the chief executive’s tools in controlling the government is separating people who won’t follow orders and hiring people who will follow orders. The establishment of institutions limits the chief executive’s power by placing important government powers into independent and professional bodies who do their duty day in and day out. If the chief executive makes a persuasive argument, the director of an institution may cooperate in whatever ways they may cooperate, but if the director of an institution violates their charter or directs others to violate their charter the legislature may impeach that director.

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