Hobbs should be able to acquire team leaders

In the private sector, chief executives hire people to help accomplish the goals of their organizations. This is such a simple concept that it is hardly worth labeling it as a “best practice.” There are other stakeholders who can offer an opinion, of course. But the ultimate decision belongs to the CEO.

We believe the Arizona Legislature needs to take a cue from the private sector and approve the governor’s appointments for agency directors, absent any egregious disqualifications.

Politicians often proclaim that “government needs to be run like a business,” but today we don’t find legislative leaders of the one-vote majority allowing that to take place in Arizona. The Senate is guilty of legislative overreach – extending beyond its traditional role of “advise and consent” and placing an inappropriate policy lens on the nomination process. So much for “limited government.”

Governors are elected (and CEOs are hired) with plans of specific policies, initiatives and practices that they intend to implement during their tenure. To effectively execute their plans, leaders require a team of competent and committed individuals who can provide the necessary support and expertise. The power to hire staff enables chief executives to select individuals who share their vision and can help them achieve their goals.

The ability to appoint staff allows a governor to quickly fill key positions within their administration, ensuring that there is no delay in the implementation of the policies to which a majority of citizens voted to support. In some cases, the appointment of specific individuals may also be necessary to address urgent challenges facing the state, such as natural disasters, economic crises, or public health emergencies.

Neither the expressed authority nor the process to appoint staff, is without critics. Especially in our very polarized and divided-government times, gubernatorial appointees become opportunities to attack career professionals, some willing to enter the public sector for the first time and make a positive contribution. Scoring political points becomes the objective rather than getting on with the work of governing. One can make arguments, and give speeches, for all the various views. But at some point, hopefully very soon, we need to move forward and the CEO of the state should be permitted to acquire and place the team she desires.

There are many areas where government should be “run like a business,” and some for which that does not neatly apply. A governor acquiring the team leaders they identify, to accomplish the goals they ran on and having been duly elected, is clearly one of the former.

Sharon Harper is president and CEO of Plaza Companies, co-chair of the Greater Phoenix Leadership Public Policy Committee and a member of Governor Hobb’s Transition Committee. Adam Goodman is president and CEO of Goodmans Interior Structures and co-chair of the Greater Phoenix Leadership Public Policy Committee.