The N.C. House of Representatives should not pass Senate Bill 10, also known as the Government Reorganization and Efficiency Act.
Last Thursday, the N.C. Senate passed Senate Bill 10, which would allow Gov. Pat McCrory and legislative leaders to replace those on panels, commissions and boards across the state with their own appointees.
Regardless of which party controls the state government at any given time, sacrificing the independence of the bureaucracy for the sake of politics isn’t in the public’s best interest.
Appointments to the state’s boards and commissions ought to be filled with individuals with fixed terms who do not bend to the interests of ideological agendas or various industries.
Obviously, appointments aren’t entirely independent — governors will always appoint people who suit their political views. But giving elected officials the ability to rescind appointments made by predecessors for purely political reasons would make the bureaucracy more transient and less skilled.
Perhaps the most worrisome part of the bill would be the detrimental effects that the passage of such a bill would pose on the state’s education system.
With McCrory’s recent statements criticizing aspects of liberal arts education in mind, students and legislative leaders should be gravely concerned about this bill.
Given the current Republican dominance in Raleigh, the state education system’s agenda could gravitate more toward traditionally conservative planks — the charter school movement, prioritizing job placement over liberal arts or privatizing the costs of higher education.
State legislators should not pass Senate Bill 10. Keep the spoils system in the past where it belongs.
